The 10-10 draw kept the Villagers in touch with their relegation rivals who enjoyed mixed fortunes at the weekend. Though still occupying the second demotion spot, Heworth are just one point behind the two teams above them, Wigan St Patricks, who had a last-minute 23-22 win over Saddleworth, and Leigh Miners Rangers who lost 24-22 at home to Thornhill.

And if they can repeat this kind of effort in their remaining three games, they must be confident of clawing away from the drop zone.

Heworth's determination was highlighted in the closing eight minutes of the game when they defended valiantly with 12 men following the sin-binning of full-back Rich Darling for holding down.

The pack were tremendous with the front row of Mark Cregan, Chris Plowman and hooker Mark Atkin, playing his first game of the season, in superb form. The two ex-professional, Jason Gatus and Craig Forsyth, had quality performances in the second row and were ably supported by Mark Green at loose forward.

Heworth were the better side in attack, scoring two tries to Oldham's one. Both came from prop Plowman who scored two tries in a game for the first time in his career. He had a towering game and clinched a share of the points with his second touch-down ten minutes from time.

On the evidence of the first half, Heworth may feel they should have returned to York with both points. They had the better of the opening exchanges and went ahead when Plowman charged over from close range following good work by scrum half Chris Hammerton.

St Annes replied with a Rob Whitemoss penalty to make the score 4-2 in Heworth's favour at the interval.

The home side improved after the break and went ahead for the first time with a try from winger Graeme Sykes which Whitemoss converted from the touchline.

There were ominous signs for Heworth who had lost star man Hammerton at the end of the first half but they showed enough character to bounce back, Darling and Andy Tindall setting up Plowman to dive over and Jason Gatus adding a difficult conversion.

But then came Darling's yellow card which gave the advantage back to St Annes and they piled on the pressure in a bid to make the most of the extra man.

Both sides missed drop goal attempts - Tindall the villain for Heworth - and Oldham looked set to clinch victory in the final minute when Paul Greener raced towards the try line. But Nathan Witty, who had replaced Darling at full-back, pulled off a superb last-ditch tackle right on the line.

Heworth are without a game next weekend with their next match away at Walney Central in two weeks time.

They will be eagerly monitoring the progress of Hammerton who twisted a knee and faces a race against time to be fit for the remaining fixtures.

Elsewhere in the premier division, title hopefuls Skirlaugh and West Hull both won. Skirlaugh remain three points clear after their 20-12 success at Walney but West Hull, 32-24 victors over Askam, have three games in hand.York University were beaten 38-18 by the University of Wales in the BUSA second team cup final at Keighley's Cougar Park. Julian Ramsey scored a hat-trick of tries with Phil White grabbing the other. Loose forward Paul Ollett was sent off for an alleged trip.

Acorn slayed by Dragons to end mini revival

York Acorn's three-match winning run was brought to an end with a 34-16 home defeat at the hands of promotion-seeking Eastmoor Dragons.

Acorn had high hopes of taking two points from the National Conference second division clash when they trailed just 14-10 at half-time, but sadly they fell apart after the break.

The Blue and Golds, whose mini-revival has boosted their hopes of avoiding a re-election place, started brightly and opened the scoring after 95 seconds with a try by Gareth Hill following a neat pass from Mick Calam.

Lee Frank's conversion and a Frank penalty saw Acorn move into an 8-0 lead before the visitors hit back with a try from prolific points scoring second rower Stuart Turton, who also added the conversion before tying up the scores with a penalty.

Frank regained the lead for Acorn with another penalty before Eastmoor capitalised on an Acorn error when they allowed a loose ball to bounce and Eastmoor centre Andy Philips latched on it to score.

Eastmoor's Turton missed the conversion but right on the stroke of half-time he made amends when slotting over a penalty to give them a 14-10 lead.

In the second half the Wakefield-based side stepped up a gear and on 50 minutes extended their lead with a try by stand-off Mick Trei.

Tries by Reece Dixon and Philips plus two goals from Brown put Eastmoor 30-10 ahead before in-form Acorn centre Gareth Lloyd, one of the division's top scorers, stormed over under the posts for a Frank-converted try.

Eastmoor had the final word when Paul Lister crossed for the last try of the game.

Top performers for Acorn were Leigh Marshall, Michael Lumby, Mick Calam and Alan Willitts.

All Blacks agony continues

There is no sign of a late recovery for New Earswick All Blacks whose chances of avoiding one of the two re-election places are fading by the week.

They took another serious beating at the weekend, going down 45-22 at Normanton Knights, which leaves them second from bottom of the second division and two points adrift of nearest rivals Dewsbury Moor.

And it is hard to see where their next point is going to from with just three games left - all against teams in the top four, including title challengers Ideal Isberg and Eccles.

The All Blacks were on the end of a Normanton blitz early on, tries by Kev Bateman, Andy McGowan, Jez Myers and man of the match Wayne Westwood, all goaled by Ian Morse, giving the home side a commanding lead.

At least New Earswick showed some heart and fought back to 24-10 at half-time when Mick Harrison and Jez Petch both crossed for tries, Carl Pallister adding a goal.

Another Pallister goal at the start of the second half kept alive All Blacks' hopes but they were soon ended when Normanton built up an unassailable lead with a Ryan Tilford drop goal, a converted try by Morse and a second touch down by Bateman.

Pallister and Graham Cross both scored towards the end to give the scoreline a more respectable look before Myers completed the scoring in the final minute.

A drop goal right on the full-time whistle robbed York Groves of a share of the points in their Yorkshire League third division game at Walton.

Tries by Steve Whattam and Paul Scott, plus two Alan Mitchell goals, had left the scores tied at 12-12 before the killer blow ended the Terriers' challenge.

Most notable performances came from Whattam, Andy Starkey and Martin Hodgson as Groves were unlucky to come away empty handed.

The two other North Yorkshire teams fared no better in their Yorkshire League clashes.

Third division basement club Scarborough were beaten 44-14 at Mirfield and Selby Warriors went down 46-26 at Nottingham Crusaders in division two.

Try scorers for Selby were Bob Hardy (2), Paul Courby, Andy Raw and Mark Hanson with Hanson also adding three goals.

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