Whitehaven went down narrowly 18-16 at home to Batley Bulldogs in a fine advert for Championship rugby.
Both sides were totally committed and the game could have gone either way.
Haven had made a great start with an early try after Jamie Doran’s kick had caused problems in the Batley defence.
It was Marcus O’Brien who got the opening score with a scoot from dummy half and Sam Freeman added the extras.
Batley were pulled level by West Cumbrian Alistair Leak’s try and Jimmy Meadows’ conversion.
A fine flowing handling move from Batley gave them a second try from Elliot Kear and Meadows conversion gave them a 12-6 lead at the break.
It didn’t look good when Batley increased their lead 12 minutes into the second-half with a try from Luke Walshaw which Meadows converted.
But a rare defensive error by Batley got Whitehaven back into the game.
Two Bulldogs players were prepared to shepherd a kick dead when James Newton surprised them by arriving late to get the touchdown and Freeman added the extras.
There was work to do for Whitehaven when they had Tom Walker sinbinned for 10 minutes but they survived without conceding.
Then 11 minutes from time Haven put the outcome on a knife edge. Great work by Dion Aiye produced a brilliant, acrobatic finish from Curtis Teare.
With Freeman substituted, Josh Rourke took over the kicking duties but pulled his conversion across the sticks.
In a dramatic conclusion Haven just couldn’t get over and narrowly fell short at the end.
