With Westoe losing [Middlesbrough, Horden, Bridlington, Redcar and Hull all won] there is a very real prospect that we can achieve our goal of finishing fourth.

We started this game as though that wasthe last thing on our minds. Both sides had the end of season blues and, when bulky home Number 8 Ian Davis bulldozed through Tim to touchdown after just five minutes, it looked like the old West had turned up.

Both sides made too many handling errors in the opening phases and Davy Tighe should really have scored from one of them.

He intercepted a pass in the 11th minute and looked up to see a 80 metre dash between himself and glory. He set off but the doubt crept into his face - could he make it on his own? Frankly, he could have because the covering York players didn't fancy it much either, and only caught up with him when Davy slowed down to let Panda catch him up. In fact so much had he slowed down that Panda was able to offload to Brett, who was still carrying a niggling leg injury from last week, but he'd charged up in support. The Kiwi did ground the ball over the line but the youthful Ref, who remained anonymous in the York programme, decided he might have hit the flag first.

That woke things up a bit and Carlo and home prop Nick Hare were both given yellows after exchanging a few blows.

While both sides were down to 14 we took advantage and Allan Milne finished off a glorious sweeping move which Panda started on the left wing when he picked up a kick. He danced his way into midfield before offloading. The backs whipped it out to Hodgy who took the ball into the tackle but managed to send in the supporting Milne.

Davy Tighe managed a superb conversion from wide on the right - but then managed to lose his touch missing half a dozen penalties he would normally have slotted.

One came on 37 minutes after man of the match Carlo made a tremendous break down the left wing. Panda was pulled back by his shirt as he tried to support in the home 22 but Davy's effort was just wide.

That would have put us back in the lead after York's Tom Copeland had put over a 35 minute effort but instead we went in 8-7 down at half time.

York's extremely affable coach had spent much of the first half passing the time of day with West supporters and he admitted he fancied his chances with the wind at his team's back. He hadn't seen us at Bridlington or at home to Horden in the cup.

With Tim Sawyer moving to No 8 and starting to run the show we dominated proceedings. Our second try was another beauty. Tim picked up from the back of ruck and chose the short side. Darren Thomas fed Toddy who galloped some 20 metres and timed his pass to Paul Miller who sprinted home from 40 metres. He managed to make it under the posts much to Davy's relief.

We kept up the pressure to such an extent that Milne and Thomas ran into each other at full pelt. Darren limped on but eventually had to be replaced by Paul Moss who was summoned from the Stags game. He and Greg Edwards should have been on the first team bench, but the Stags were unusually hit by cry-offs. As a result they lost 35-5 - mainly because they had no recognized front rows.

Our third and final try came on 66 minutes. Garse did some great work breaking into the home 22 on the left. We quickly recycled the ball out to the right where we had men over and Hodgy was the beneficiary.

York did manage to get into our 22 when skipper Andy Kay burst through the middle. Anth Carr had been tackling his socks off all afternoon and he caught up just in time.

But we didn't roll away quickly enough and York were awarded a penalty 15 metres out and just to the right of the posts. With five minutes left and 11 poimts adrift you would have expected them to seek a try. Instead they missed the penalty kick.

Both Brett and Darren now have two weeks to recover from what looked like leg muscle injuries. Bridlington will be desperate for a win but, as we will be drinking all the beer off after the game, it would be nice to be able to celebrate a final fourth place.

York: Tom Copeland, Dave Moss-Blundle, Sam Arkle, Sean Bass, Steve Moss-Blundle, Mark Roverts, Matt Boyle, Nick Hare, Rob Allen, Simon Humphries, Brad MacDonald, Grant Williams, Andy Kay [Capt], Stuart Davis, Ian Davis. Reps: Rob Taylor, Jeremy Clutton, Adi Martin.

West Martin Todd, Paul Miller, Peter Hodgson, Allan Milne, Andrew Hare, Davy Tighe, Darren Thomas [Paul Moss 60, Anthony Carr, Brett Cullinane [Geritz 65], Carl Robinson, Carl Miller, Paul Rudd, Hentry Tones, Tim Sawyer [capt[, Phil Gilbraith. Reps: Michael Geritz, Greg Edwards, Paul Moss.