Pocklington lost for the first time of their summer series as they went down 31-26 defeat in disappointing fashion at Scarborough, where Pocklington led for most of the game only to see the seasiders snatch the result with the last play of the day seven minutes into stoppage time.
Despite being without a full pack of key forwards, Pocklington looked in control as hooker Dave Birch and centre Josh Britton blasted over for first quarter tries, both converted by Christian Pollock. It developed into a contest between Scarborough's kicking game and Pocklington strike runners; with Scarborough pulling a converted try back then Britton's acceleration and eye for the gap seeing him sprint in again, Pollock'sconversion coming back off the woodwork.
Scarborough again pegged Pock back with a try from a kick through to make it 19-14 to Pocklington at the break.
Pocklington might have been short of forwards, though the strong carries of Kym Russell and Sam Garvey made up the deficit, but they had a plethora of backs. And the need to give everyone a run out disrupted the flow as a bevy of substutions saw youth replace experience, including Britton (pictured) being brought off on the hour straight after completing his hattrick with a 60-yard interception scored converted by Pollock.
Despite the efforts of threequarters Richie Kaisia and Tom Richardson, Pocklington missed too many tackles and Scarborough's experience came to the fore in the closing stages to see them cross again from a Pock overthrow to cut the gap to five points. Pocklington still led 26-21 into the dying minutes but failed to close the game out, and their mistakes threw the home side a last gasp lifeline to level matters at 26-26 in the 80th minute.
The momentum was now with the home side and they went on to win the game at the death with a try from the final play of the day.
Pocklington Colts remain unbeaten as they overwhelmed Goole at on Sunday to follow up their double over rivals Malton & Norton in the previous two weeks. Pocklington Colts won 24-7 at home to Malton to complement their 17-14 away success seven days earlier. And they blew under strength Goole away this week with a 74-12 try fest.
This weekend, Pocklington 1st are at Malton & Norton on Friday evening (28 May), kick off 7.15 pm, while the Colts go to Hull Ionians on Sunday afternoon.
