IT was a kickers' tale as a spirited York Groves lost 22-16 against fellow Pennine League division five high-fliers Undercliffe.

Although each side scored four tries, all Groves' touchdowns came out wide and Jason Dunn was unable to goal any of the them, with conversions at the other end proving the difference.

After early pressure from Groves, winger Paul Watson received an excellent pass from hooker Danny Battle to open the scoring.

Undercliffe came back into it with a penalty and a converted try, and they dominated the rest of the half, adding another converted try just before the break to turn around 14-4 up, which could have been worse for Groves but for the huge efforts in defence of Danny Buy, Keith Holmes and Battle.

The second half was a different matter with Groves in the ascendancy. The first 20 minutes was spent in the Undercliffe half but the Terriers were unable to turn pressure into points and Undercliffe managed two breakaway tries, one converted.

With James Foster-Rain and Nige Ridsdale leading the attack, Groves finally scored through the industrious John Thompson, but there were only 15 minutes left to turn the game around and this wasn't enough.

Battle crowned his man of the match display by racing on to a kick from

Andy Payne to dive over in the corner, and the ever-improving Watson added to his season's growing try tally with his second of the day.

The final minutes were a frantic affair but Undercliffe's scrambling defence just managed to repel Groves' last efforts.

Runaway leaders York Acorn 'A's 100 per cent record came to an end as they lost 28-10 at second-placed Thornton to complete a miserable day for the Thanet Road club, whose first team, as reported in yesterday's Evening Press, were knocked out of the Challenge Cup by amateur big-guns Lock Lane.

Updated: 11:01 Tuesday, November 18, 2003