HARROGATE put their promotion chase back on track with a convincing 26-8 victory over Newbury.

Ed Smithies opened the scoring with a try after Newbury were reduced to 14 men through a sin-binning. Lee Cholewa converted only for Newbury to reply with a Malcolm Roberts penalty.

Harrogate opened up a 14-3 lead when Paul Gabriel was on hand to finish off a fantastic flowing move which Cholewa converted.

In the last quarter of the game, it was Harrogate who were down to 14 men following a yellow card and Newbury took advantage to set up a well worked try in the corner for wing Tom Holloway.

Despite being a man down Harrogate played some of their best rugby and a second try for Smithies and a five-pointer from Johan Visser put the result beyond doubt.

Updated: 10:57 Monday, January 20, 2003