A rousing late push earned Billingham two losing bonus points as they were beaten 47-45 against Firwood Waterloo.
The tries were flowing at Greenwood Road as two of National Three North’s top six locked horns in a match that will live long in the memory.
After a heavy 41-6 defeat in the reverse fixture, Billingham knew they had it all to do against a Waterloo side battling for a top three finish.
And it didn’t start well for the hosts, trailing 28-14 at the break with a series of clinical rolling mauls by the visitors inflicting plenty of damage.
At one stage Billingham were trailing 42-26, but a gutsy second-half display saw them draw to within two points in the dying seconds.
Billingham captain Peter Evans admitted he’s never been involved in such a ding-dong battle.
“I’ve been in high-scoring games before but never with two sides both scoring nearly 50 points,” the full-back said
“I think we let them get away in two 10-minute spells. They pulled ahead and it looked like they would run away with it.
“We got on the wrong side of the referee early on and most of their tries came from penalties kicked into the corner and then a rolling maul over the line.
“We’re a young team and maybe we were bit naive and didn’t adjust to the referee as well as they did. I actually thought we were pretty good defensively but the penalties killed us.
“They were a much more experienced side who had clearly played at this level for a lot longer, but the way we came back in the second half bodes well for us.
“There’s no pressure because we’re clear from relegation, and that makes a big difference. We’re a young team and last season a lot of our lads were put under a lot of pressure with us being in the bottom three.
“But this season we’re sixth in the table and it means we can afford to have games like Saturday. We’ll take plenty from the match.
Guisborough held on to top spot in Durham and North One after thrashing Sunderland 66-10 at Belmangate, but Stockton saw their top four aspirations suffer a blow at Hartlepool Rovers.
Falling foul of a last minute penalty decision when the scores were tied, all Stockton had to show for their endeavour at the New Friarage was a losing bonus point.
Stockton went into the break 7-5 ahead courtesy of a Joel Simpson try and Jeremy Good conversion, and two more Good penalties gave them the lead.
But Rovers came roaring back after flanker Joe Green received two yellow cards, with the hosts sealing a 16-13 win.
In Yorkshire One Middlesbrough slipped to another defeat as they were beaten 15-0 at Old Brodleians, meaning it’s one win in six for Ian Heslehurst’s men.
Redcar maintained their promotion charge with a 19-15 win at Barnard Castle in Durham and North Two. Trailing 15-5 at the break, the game was transformed when substitute Keiran McMahon came on at fly-half, using his experience to control the game.
On target for the Seasiders were Craig Newland, Ben Durrans and Danny Addison, with Addison adding two conversions.
Acklam remain in third after chalking an incredible 15 tries against Hartlepool BBOB.
Adam Harrison (2), Paul Roberts (2), Tim Savage, Andrew Dalton (2), Dean Roberts (4), John Morgan, Andrew Cruickshank, Lewis Parr and Jack Grabham were on target as the hosts clinched a 101-3 victory.
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