An explosive final five minutes helped Wharfedale salvage a 22-22 draw at home to Sedgley Park under The Avenue floodlights on Tuesday.

For 77 minutes, Park had exerted an increasingly dominant grip on proceedings and were leading 22-8 in the re-arranged National League One encounter.

Both victory and the invaluable four points needed to keep the spectre of relegation away looked assured. Then Wharfedale ignited, playing with astonishing power, cohesion and pace, which made a mockery of their earlier nervous error-strewn play.

With three minutes left, Simon Horsfall squeezed over in the corner after a furious combination of sweeping back play out of defence and determined ball-carrying through the middle, with replacement Ben Sowrey the catalyst.

Tom Davidson’s studied touchline kick – banishing Saturday’s gremlins – sailed high and straight, and one bonus point had been salvaged.

But the fired-up Greens immediately fought their way back to the Park line, and increasingly desperate Tigers’ defence yielded a penalty line-out at the corner, and then, in attempting to stem successive close drives, a penalty try for multiple infringements near the line.

With only a minute remaining, Davidson’s simple conversion saw the Greens secure a thrilling and unlikely draw.

After two bruising encounters in four days, the Dalesmen have understandably delayed selection for Saturday's home game against London Scottish.