Harrogate RUFC chief Martyn Wood not too unhappy with a point on the road at Tynedale RFC

Sam Fox's last-gasp drop-goal at Tynedale salvaged a losing bonus point for Harrogate RUFC. Picture: Gerard Binks

Martyn Wood felt that Harrogate RUFC did well to come away from Saturday’s National Two North trip to Tynedale with a losing bonus point.

Starved of possession for long periods, the Aces ended up on the wrong end of a 15-8 scoreline and their director of rugby insists that his players deserve credit for the way they dug in and defended.

"The game wasn’t as close as the scoreline suggests, Tynedale were far and away the better team,” Harrogate’s director of rugby said.

“They must have had 80 percent of possession and I don’t think we ever really looked like winning the match.

"But there are still positives to take. We showed a lot of grit and determination to defend for as long as we did and to keep working hard to keep them out.

"Tynedale are a good National Two team, it’s a tough place to go. When you hardly have any of the ball and continually find yourselves on the wrong side of the referee’s interpretation, to stick in there for 80 minutes and still come away with a point isn’t a bad effort.

"We’d have lost a game like that by 40 points at the start of the season. So while I won’t say I’m satisfied with where we are, I do think we are making progress.”

Although they spent the majority of the contest on the back foot, Harrogate made a bright start to Saturday’s match and actually registered the first score of the game.

There were just five minutes on the clock when the ball was spun left for winger Will Yates to bag his sixth try of the season.

Tynedale levelled things at 5-5 four minutes later as Louis Frankland touched down, then moved in front just before half-time through Robert Parker’s finish.

No more points were scored until the last minutes of the game, James Blackett kicking a penalty to move the hosts 15-5 ahead.

Then, with time almost up, Sam Fox kicked a last-gasp drop-goal to bring ‘Gate within seven points and ensure that they did not finish up empty-handed.

Defeat leaves Wood and his men second-from-bottom of the table, four points above Blaydon following their recent points deduction, and just one behind 12th-placed Huddersfield.

This Saturday, ‘Gate travel to third-placed Hull Ionians, 2pm kick-off.