Out of the jaws of defeat came victory as Malton and Norton beat Roundhegians 36-24.

Trailing by ten points with less than ten minutes left, Malton staged a dramatic comeback to snatch the win.

With the visitors stuck in traffic, the kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes and Malt should have been first out of the blocks.

However, the points failed to materialise and Rounds took the lead with a breakaway try when a speculative hack saw full-back Graham Precious get the touchdown. Fly-half Adrian Hogg converted.

Rounds applied pressure around the fringes but Malton scored next when skipper Chris Creber intercepted and raced 40 yards to the line.

Malton were unable to stamp their mark on the game and Roundhegians went further ahead with a Hogg penalty.

After the interval centre Mike Smith scored Rounds' second try, which Hogg improved.

Malton, with Phil Ryan to the fore, then began the fightback as scrum-half Adrian Hall tackled his opposite number behind the goal-line, dislodging the ball for Dave Knaggs to score. Ian Cooke converted.

The home three-quarters came to life as the forwards began to dominate. After a fine move, centre Matt Richmond found the opening to score his first of two tries.

Cooke converted and Malton held a two-point lead. But they slipped back into cruise mode and Rounds took advantage as a rolling maul brought a try for hooker Sam Bonner which replacement fly-half Brendan Smith improved.

All appeared lost now for Malton as the clock ran down. But the first of their recovery scores came when flanker Richard Webster dived over from a ruck, Cooke converting.

From the restart Creber booted the ball into the 22 and David Webster and Richmond were up quickly to dispossess the full-back to give the latter his second score.

Again from the kick-off Malt were on to the offensive, with prop Tom Eddy gaining possession 20 metres out to score under the posts.

It was not a vintage display by Malt but at least the points are in the bag. However, promotion last term was lost as a result of points difference and their defence will need some attention if a similar fate is to be avoided.

Updated: 11:43 Monday, September 24, 2001