Selby 11 North Ribblesdale 13

A NERVELESS penalty on the stroke of full time by Steven Moon earned North Ribblesdale four points and helped secure their Yorkshire One place for another season.

Ribb seemed to have blown their chance of a sixth-successive win when they made a hash of a two-on-one in the last two minutes.

But they kept pressing and benefitted from a farcical finish when referee Gavin Pender penalised Selby for throwing the ball into touch.

There was an element of justice as Simon Bolland had a try disallowed when he had clearly got over the line.This was the only blemish on excellent referee Pender's performance.

Ribb were missing the powerful presence in the pack of Sam Boatwright so Andrew Thwaite was drafted in.

The visitors had the advantage of the strong wind in the first half and David Fox went close on the left wing after a strong run.

Selby used the line-out well to orchestrate their attacks. They used a shortened line-out to food effect and this enabled their big forwards to make dents in Ribb’s midfield.

The visitors used the counter attack well with the pace of Adam Whaites and Simon Bolland proving an effective weapon in forcing Selby back.

Ribb's best chance came from a good burst up the middle by Matt Speres which gave room for Bolland to go for the corner.

He was definitely not in touch but the try was refused for a knock on which bewildered the winger.

It was a feature of the first half that Selby made a number of changes taking off big men to substitute even bigger ones . This made life hard for the Ribb close defence and the scrum but they could not force the breakthrough, but they will have been satisfied to turn round with the game scoreless.

Selby opened the scoring two minutes into the second half when Peter Turner went over on the left for an unconverted try.

Josh Cruise added a penalty soon after when Ribb strayed offside.

Ribb however are a resilient side and led by Whaites, who played a good counter-attacking game, they turned Selby’s kicking game into a productive outlet.

Ribb’s back row were nothing like as big as Selby’s but were far more mobile with Nathan Dakin invariably first to the loose ball. His recycling of possession brought the power of Speres, Mick Carr and Willy Garth into the game.

Selby’s big pack were tiring and break from Fox,took his side into the 22.

Jonny Moore crashed the ball up the centre and Speres went over for an unconverted try after a couple of forward drives.

Ribb ran the ball back from from the kick ith both Bolland and Whaites making ground and got into the Selby half. The forwards took it on and got a penalty which Bolland took into the corner Ribb mauled forward against a tiring Selby pack , got over but were held up .but the attack was halted on the line.

Selby finally managed to relieve the pressure by kicking deep into the Ribb half where they won a penalty. Cruise landed the kick to make it 11-5 with ten minutes to go.

Ribb simply don't give up these days. Michael Thwaite put the kick off high and Willie Garth was first to the ball. Good handling by Moon led to Mick Carr bursting over for an unconverted try.

There was one point between the sides with five minutes to play. Bolland and Moon took their side back to the Selby 22. Speres was held up short but an overlap was squandered when the ball was recycled.

Selby were in possession in their own 22 in the last minute. Under pressure they threw the ball out of play. It meant Moon had a difficult 25metre kick, across the difficult wind, to win the game. He was up to the test.

Ribb will be hoping to make it seven wins on the trot on Saturday when they play hosts to lowly Wath-upon-Dearne.