Two late tries from North Wales Crusaders condemned injury-hit Workington Town to a fourth successive defeat in League One.
They now sit third bottom with only Cornwall and Newcastle Thunder below them, and matches against the top two Oldham and Keighley coming up next.
With five minutes left Town led 32-22 but a converted try then, and another in the last minute, gave Crusaders the win that enabled them to leapfrog Town in the table.
But this was a good effort from a Town side missing several key players and with others playing out of position and to get so close to a win left them all gutted.
After a cagey start from both teams Workington went in front after 11 minutes when Ciaran Walker kicked a penalty.
That lead was increased two minutes later when a smart handling move ended with debutant Tom Brierley crossing and Walker adding the extras.
As the game progressed Town had to withstand some strong pressure and twice the Crusaders got over but were unable to ground the ball.
The pressure told on 18 minutes though when the home side was able to spread the ball wide for Jack Holmes to score an unconverted try.
It was still looking promising for Town though when they weathered the storm and made ground themselves to score a second try by JJ Key which was converted by Walker.
The Crusaders finished the half strongly and on 37 minutes Shaun Costello powered through the Town defence to score, with ben Lane converting.
A minute before the hooter they scored again to go in all square at 14-14. Kieran Taylor had to juggle with a pass but he held on and went over in the corner.
Two minutes after the re-start North Wales took the lead for the first time when debutant Liam Cooper, a former Whitehaven forward, scored a try which Lane converted.
But their advantage lasted just two minutes when Workington were back level with a try from Tyler Walton which was converted by Walker.
It was to and fro now, and on 51 minutes a penalty by Lane put North Wales back in front.
Four minutes later Ellis Archer intercepted a Crusaders pass and went from just inside his own half to score a try. Although the conversion was missed Walker added a penalty on 67 minutes for a 26-22 lead.
On 71 minutes Town looked to have done enough when Jordan Burns scored in the corner and Walker converted.
But it wasn’t to be as some poor game management and sloppy defending enabled the Crusaders to come back and win it with tries from Ben Evans (78) and Chris Barratt (79), both converted by Lane.
