A fifth straight defeat, 30-29 at the hands of Stockton, plunged Aspatria into the bottom three of Durham/Northumberland One.
Overall the game at Bower Park was scrappy, with hard earned possession given up too easily, particularly but not exclusively, by the home side.
Scrappy does not necessarily mean it was a poor game. In fact, as the lead changed hands, the tension, particularly in the last few minutes would need a chainsaw to cut through it.
Stockton played hard and fair but even they could not have predicted how lady luck would clinch the victory with the final play of the day.
A line-out was well won by Stockton but when the ball reached the centre, he threw a pass to his right that travelled a full six feet forward. Everyone saw it, except the ref and play on was the call.
It was a desperate attack from Stockton and as they closed in on the try line two more interchange passes were at the very least, questionable.
Stockton made the most of their good fortune and finished the move in the corner to snatch the game and a full five points.
The game had started poorly for the home side. Possession conceded immediately put Stockton on the front foot and in a position to earn a penalty close to the Aspatria line.
Stand-off James Burden put a speculative cross-field kick out to the right wing where Aspatria’s defenders looked, and should, have been favourites to defuse the bomb but failed to do so.
It handed the visitors a 7-0 lead with only four minutes gone.
Stockton increased the lead with a penalty on seven minutes following an illegal tackle by Aspatria.
The hosts came back when a penalty pushed them into the left corner. The catch and drive set-up a charge for the line by centre Ryan Scott.
Although he was inches short the ball was recycled to his left for number eight Gary Hodgson to go in at the corner.
Jack Clegg knocked over a penalty for the home side on 13 minutes and Aspatria looked to be back in business.
Minutes later a Clegg cross field chip seemed perfect, finding winger Tom Gardner in space on the right wing with an unopposed stroll to the line.
There were no complaints on the field from Stockton but the referee judged Gardner marginally offside.
Then around the half way mark an Aspatria’s attack was broken up and a timely interception gifted Stockton a second try to pull further away from the home side.
Despite the setback Aspatria began to have the better of both possession and field position. A try break through did not come but before half-time the pressure told on Stockton through the concession of 3 kickable penalties. Clegg knocked them all over to provide Aspatria with a slender half-time lead of 17-15.
As in the first period, Aspatria started the next in second gear and within five minutes of the restart the lead was handed back to Stockton.
This, their third try, unlike the earlier two was well earned. The visiting forwards controlled the ball for multiple phases near the try line and eventually created the gap for the score.
Aspatria responded with a well worked score to tie the game at 22-22.
This was a classic team effort with near enough every player involved in the build-up. Gardner did the final damage on the right flank before off-loading to forward, Matthew Atkinson to go over.
On 62 minutes, and acknowledging that neither team looked likely to break the deadlock with a try, Stockton regained the lead with a penalty shot from round about the half way mark.
With the minutes ticking by and behind on the scoreboard, urgency flooded back into Aspatria’s play.
On 33 minutes centre Josh Watson launched a decisive break down field. Watson’s run had the Stockton defence back pedaling and he in turn had Scott on his shoulder to take the final pass and go over to restore Aspatria’s lead, 29-25.
The minutes ticket away. Aspatria had hands on the ball for several of these, long enough to take the game deep into time added by the referee.
The final whistle seemed overdue when Stockton finally took over the ball and then used a penalty to secure a line-out around the Aspatria 22.
And so the final phase of the game proved crucial and controversial.