HARROGATE improved their chances of finishing third in National League Division Two with a late 19-17 victory over Nottingham at Claro Road.

The win was a big help to North Yorkshire rivals Wharfedale, who were able to leapfrog Nottingham near the foot of the table after their 14-9 win over Doncaster.

The combination of both results lifted Wharfedale out of the bottom three for the first time since before Christmas.

It was not all plain sailing for Harrogate who fell behind against the run of play to a try under the posts by Lloyd, set up by a break from centre Royer. Southam added the conversion.

Harrogate hit back straight from the kick-off with a rolling maul paving the way for flanker Andy Boyle to go over the line for an unconverted try.

However, Lloyd, who had an impressive match for the visitors, struck with his second try and Nottingham moved further ahead with the conversion and a penalty by Southam.

Harrogate piled on the pressure in the second half and were rewarded when John Dudley opened the way at a lineout for scrum-half Morgan to dart over for a score improved by Lee Cholewa's conversion.

With time ticking away, Dudley forced his way over to level the scores at 17-17 and Cholewa added the extras to give Harrogate a last-gasp hard-fought win which was celebrated with great gusto in the Dales.

Updated: 10:14 Monday, March 31, 2003