MALTON and Norton RUFC can be forgiven for dreaming of Twickenham after a fabulous 20-18 victory at The Gannock over Pontefract took them into the last 16 of the EDF Energy Senior Vase.

Malt produced their best performance of the season to topple the Yorkshire One league leaders and had to finish the game with 13 players after an unsavoury dust up between the two packs of forwards saw two Malton and a Pontefract player red carded.

The East Yorkshire outfit certainly had the edge against their division rivals and now progress into the sixth round of the competition, where they will face a team from the North/Midlands section.

Malton won at Twickenham in the Junior Vase in 2001/02 - beating Hoylake 36-20 in the final - and will feel optimistic about returning following this triumph.

Choosing to play into a strong wind in the first half, Malton were soon under pressure and conceded a penalty for not releasing in the tackle. Visiting fly-half Andy Dean converted, but Malton were hungry and the pack gradually hit back to turn the screw, creating panic in their opponents.

A typical Ian Cooke run from half way took him clear of the defensive line before putting centre Phil Pateman under the posts for Cooke to convert.

Duncan Foster was causing havoc in Pontefract's line-out and Malton looked like taking control but a series of unnecessary penalties resulted in a yellow card for Malton flanker Lucas Combes.

The decision seemed to give Malton extra fire and, when a Pontefract player was also carded, Cooke slotted a penalty in front of the posts to give the home side a seven point half-time lead.

Malt increased their lead just seconds into the second period when a handling error in the Pontefract back line was seized upon by Malton skipper Chris Creber, who raced away from half way to touch down under the posts.

Cooke converted and Malton had a healthy lead.

Defensively, they were sound until they were again reduced in numbers when centre Cameron Madden - producing his best performance in Malton colours - was sin-binned for killing the ball at a tackle.

This time Ponte took advantage of the extra man to put fullback Simon Spears over in the corner.

With the clock running down and with a nine-point advantage, Malton's Ed Gwilliam, Adam Turnbull and a Pontefract second row were sent off and Pontefract's Mike Bateman scored with five minutes left.

All Malton's work seemed to be in vain when former England squad man Derek Eves touched down, following a catch and drive, in added time to give Pontefract a one point lead.

But Pontefract made a mistake and Cooke nailed a penalty from 40 metres out and ten metres in from touch to give Malton a superb victory.