Selby had only themselves to blame after once more going down to a single point 17-16 defeat despite leading 16-10 with five minutes left at Ilkley.

Leading 8-5 at half time and by 16-10 after 75 minutes, Selby failed to control the last ten minutes of the game, allowing Ilkley to score a 79th-minute converted try and thereby win the game and the two points.

A penalty kick by Dan Porter in the third minute went narrowly wide of the posts. Minutes later, an intelligent flowing move from the backs should have put centre Andy Gabel in but he was held inches short of the line.

Selby continued to press but poor passing in the backs prevented them from turning their undoubted superiority into points and the only pressure Ilkley exerted was as a result of Selby mistakes.

It was from one such occasion when Ilkley took the lead, with their pacey winger, Simon Smith, going in at the corner after five Selby defenders failed to put in a meaningful tackle.

Selby reduced their arrears in the 40th minute when Ilkley were penalised 40 metres out and Porter made amends for his earlier miss with a magnificent penalty kick.

Selby continued to press from the kick-off and the forwards forced the Ilkley pack over the try line with prop Richard Fuller scoring his first try for the club.

A handling error gave Ilkley a scrum ten metres out and centre Tim Rawlins scored wide out in the 55th minute to lead 10-8.

It was then Selby's turn to exert some pressure and they re-took the lead in the 71st minute after a promising move from the backs forced Ilkley to concede a five-metre scrum. The scrum took the ball to the line where Wright Phillips picked up and dived over for the try wide out - Porter's conversion attempt hit a post and bounced out.

Four minutes later, Ilkley were penalised and Porter kicked the penalty which should have won the game for Selby with a 16-10 advantage with only five minutes of normal time to go.

But Selby allowed Ilkley too much space and Ilkley scored midway between touch and the posts to go within a point of Selby at 16-15 and the conversion made it 17-16. Selby were unable to respond during the four minutes of added on time at the end of the game.

Selby lost this game because they failed to play to their strengths.

In general the forwards had the better of Ilkley for most of the game, especially at the line-out but Ilkley had the better and faster backs, especially their two wingers and this is what won them the game - Selby's backs, although showing glimpses of what they might be capable of, made far too many mistakes, handing the initiative back to Ilkley.

Updated: 13:39 Monday, October 24, 2005