YORK RI had their supporters on the edge of their seats again after pulling back a 19-0 deficit to beat visiting Thornesians 20-19 with a Michael Tyrpenou penalty in the dying seconds.

RI could not have had a worse start, going five points behind after only five minutes when Thornensians prop James was driven over from a scrum.

Worse was to follow. A wayward pass in the centre was intercepted by Connor who outpaced the home defence to score under the posts.

That stunned RI to counter. A series of drives by Jeffreys, Mallon and Alexander led to scoring chances but stout defence kept RI at bay.

An injury to Matthew Yates saw RI shuffle their backs around with Robin Grice taking over at number ten and Nathan Ashman coming in on the wing.

But Thornensians went further ahead just before the break, James taking advantage of a fumble to cross.

The second half had barely started when RI hooker Allport burst between two tacklers to score. Tyrpenou converted.

When Ashman crossed wide out it was clear the tide had turned.

Thornensians now panicked and when caught offside RI took a tap penalty for crash-ball specialist Mallon to shrug off three challengers to score.

It was now all RI, but the visitors defended sternly and just as it looked they might hang on, Tyrpenou struck with only seconds to go.

Updated: 11:31 Monday, December 05, 2005