Jamie Benn turned from villain to hero to clinch York Wasps' first point of the season in the most dramatic fashion at Huntington Stadium yesterday.

Benn made up for a generally poor performance to slot home a brilliant touchline conversion and tie the scores with the last kick of the game.

There were only 20 seconds left on the stadium clock when Leroy McKenzie just got his fingers to Paddy Handley's chip inside the Hunslet in-goal area before the ball bounced into touch.

After consultation with the touch judge, the referee awarded the try to leave Benn with the most difficult of tasks.

Benn had made a number of handling errors after switching from winger to full-back and had also failed with all three previous conversion attempts.

But when it really mattered, and with an air of anticipation filling the ground, Benn calmly slotted the ball straight between the sticks from the left touchline.

The hooter immediately sounded, which was music to the ears of the Wasps players and fans having finally got their season off the mark.

It was a game they could and maybe should have won, but under the circumstances a draw was probably a fair result.

The lead changed hands several times, with York holding the half-time advantage at 10-6 but with Hunslet having the upper hand in the second half.

Some slack defending allowed full-back George Raynor to put Hunslet ahead with a sixth-minute try which served as a wake-up call for the Wasps.

A Benn penalty reduced the deficit before York should have gone in front for the first time, only for McKenzie to have the ball knocked from his grasp over the Hunslet line.

The try did eventually come on 28 minutes, scrum-half Gareth Oulton weighting his chip perfectly for Benn to pick up and score in the corner.

Hunslet scrum-half Chris Ross levelled the scores with a penalty but right on the stroke of half-time York regained the lead.

Handley threw out a long pass to centre Craig Moore then followed up behind for the return pass to complete a brilliantly executed runaround.

The Wasps, again led superbly by the driving runs of Michael Smith, looked well poised for their first win of the season going into the half-time break, but it was a different story in the second half.

Hunslet, light-weight in terms of size, but well equipped for speed, played to their strengths enabling them to find gaps in the Wasps' defence.

Former Hull and Halifax loose forward Rob Roberts was the chief tormentor, spraying around some damaging passes and putting in some towering bombs which were causing increasing problems for Benn.

It was Roberts who set up the Hawks' next try. His long ball sent centre Iain Higgins on a run down the right side and he had Mick Coyle in support on his inside to outpace the defence to go over for a try, which Ross converted.

A couple of drop goals by Roberts extended Hunslet's lead to 14-10, at which stage York were looking worryingly out of sorts.

But when a rallying call is needed, the Wasps can always count on reliable skipper Alan Pallister. Out of nowhere, he made a 40-metre surge down the centre of the field, took a quick tap penalty and gained another 15 metres to leave York just inches from the Hawks' line.

A quick play the ball saw Handley give out a long ball to Chris Allen, who had no problems stepping inside his marker to score from close range and tie the scores.

Hunslet should have gone back in front when York were penalised 20 metres from their own line for offside after Benn had dropped a Roberts' bomb. But Ross put the relatively simple penalty wide to let York off the hook.

Benn was soon in trouble again though when he fumbled another Roberts' kick to gift Hunslet possession ten metres from the York line. Coyle burrowed his way under a three-man tackle from acting half and Ross added the extras to make it 20-14.

As York threw everything at the Hunslet defence, Chris Allen almost got on the end of Gareth Dobson's grubber kick only for the ball to roll agonisingly into touch.

Roberts then hit a post with his third drop goal attempt as the game swung from end to end before McKenzie and Benn handed the Wasps the perfect Christmas present right at the death.

York Wasps: Chris Allen 7, Jamie Benn 6, Paul Butterfield 6, Craig Moore 7, Leroy McKenzie 7, Paddy Handley 8, Gareth Oulton 6, Mick Hagan 7, Gareth Dobson 7, Craig Forsyth 7, Darren Hughes 7, Michael Smith 8, Mick Ramsden 6.

Subs: Tim Rumford (Oulton 30min) 6, Matt Mulholland (Hagan 59) 6, Alan Pallister (Ramsden 27) 7. Re-subs: Oulton (Dobson 79). Not used: Adam Briggs

Sin-binned: None; Sent off: None; Penalties: Nine; Scrums won: Four Tries: Benn (28min), Handley (40), Allen (56), McKenzie (80) Goals: Benn 2

Hunslet Hawks: George Raynor, David Plange, Iain Higgins, Michael Wainwright, Aaron Campbell, Marcus Vassilakopoulos, Chris Ross, Guy Adams, Nicky Dobson, David Bates, Mick Coyle, Dave Jessey, Rob Roberts. Subs: Chris North (for Plange 40), Mick Banks (Jessey 28), Ben Skerrett (Banks 55). Re-subs: Banks for Bates (72) Not used: Tony Howcroft Sin-binned: None; Sent off: None; Penalties: Eight; Scrums won: Ten; Tries: Raynor (6min), Coyle (45, 66) Goals: Ross 3. Drop goals: Roberts (47,50min)

Attendance: 698; Referee: Julian King (St Helens); Half-time: 10-6

Man of the match: Michael Smith: The forward is in a hot run of form at the moment and again made valuable yards with his driving runs. A tower of strength in the pack

dianne.hillaby@ycp.co.uk