YORK failed to reach the finals of the National Top Ten Tournament for the first time when they lost to Cumbria 74-66 in the play-off.

Their only success came from Paul Mooring, Phil Emmerson and Phil Parsons in the triples.

Playing at Carlisle, they had a good start leading 7-0 after two ends. After 12 ends they were still ahead 13-5 but then dropped a four followed by a three. However, they responded well scoring threes on the next two ends to win 19-13.

The other away rink of David Stroughair and Graham Instone were involved in a close game until the later stages when they fell away losing 21-17.

At home, the game started badly when Iain Boyle lost 21-14 to England international Steve Farish, who had earlier led by just one shot.

The fours were also at home and saw Michael Bruce, Graham Brooke, Frank Turner and Philip Scott get back into their game with a five on the 11th end to level the scores at 9-9. After 17 ends Bruce's team led 16-14, but yielded their grip to lose 19-16 to a team including England internationals David Taylor, John Bell and Trevor Taylor.

Updated: 08:41 Thursday, March 13, 2003