YORK Groves could hold their heads high despite being knocked out of the GMB BARLA National Cup by a 36-1 margin.

Visitors to South Moor, Ellenborough Rangers, are one of the top amateur teams in Cumbria and prior to this game were flying high in the Cumberland League's top division.

But from the start, Groves were never overawed and it was only when Ellenborough's better fitness told in the second half that the visitors piled on the points.

Groves were unlucky not to score in the first quarter as scrum-half John Thompson was stopped just short of the line, and skipper Paul Scott had a further chance but was just unable to gather the ball with the line at his mercy.

Ellenborough gradually regained their composure and made full use of some slack tackling by the hosts to take a 14-1 half-time lead, with the Terriers' sole point coming from a well-taken drop goal by Thompson.

The visitors withstood some more pressure before the break but in the second half their class began to tell against a Groves side who, nevertheless, stuck to their task with particularly fine performances from Andy Starkey, Martin Simpson, Thompson and Paul Fentiman.

Updated: 12:36 Monday, January 14, 2002