A THRILLING match at White Rose Avenue saw visitors Oulton 'A' sneak away with the Yorkshire League senior division points thanks to a 20-18 win over New Earswick All Blacks.

Oulton went ahead on four minutes with a try and by ten minutes were 10-0 up following a converted touchdown under the sticks.

All Blacks came back with some tremendous passing rugby and on 16 minutes a superb break by Simon Mallarkey saw him switch the ball inside to the excellent Jez Petch, who scored an unconverted try.

Ten minutes later, Petch fed John Leach to go over near the sticks, with Carl Pallister adding the extras to equalise at 10-10.

Five minutes before half-time, Pallister kicked a penalty goal to give his side the lead for the first time in the match.

However, the hosts were again caught cold at the beginning of the second half as Oulton raced in for a converted try to retake the lead.

On 50 minutes, a Pallister penalty reduced the deficit to 16-14 but All Blacks suffered a blow on the hour-mark when man of the match prop Jamie Daniel was sin-binned for retaliation.

Despite the efforts of top tackler Tom Coomber, Oulton took advantage a minute later when going over for another try to make it 20-14.

When Daniel returned, All Blacks made a renewed bid and pressured the visitors' line, and with a minute left, Pallister picked up a loose ball to score in the corner.

However, he could not kick the crucial conversion from the touchline and the final whistle sounded.

Updated: 12:24 Monday, November 12, 2001