NORTH Ribblesdale made the long trip to South Yorkshire outfit Dinnington short of a few regulars, but still travelled expecting a win to keep their title hopes intact.

Playing uphill into a breeze Ribb started lethargically and almost immediately got the refs shackles up with too much back-chat, albeit after several questionable decisions.

This cost them dearly and ex Rotherham fly-halt Kai Kerrigan kicked a penalty and then fullback Patterson scored an unconverted try. Centre Wallbank then scored another unconverted try and Kerrigan added a further penalty to put the visitors in a precarious position.

Two yellow cards for innocuous looking transgressions were handed out to Adam Middleton and Conor Stubbs which made Ribbs’ task even harder. The only bright spot of a difficult first half was the tackling of centre Simon Bolland who connected with everything in his sights.

At 16-0 down, early into the second half Tom Davidson kept the home side at bay with some astute kicks to touch, only for three attacking lineouts to be dragged down without being penalised.

The introduction of the more than solid Richard Lynn into the front row gave Ribb a big advantage at scrum time but they were penalised as they heaved their opponents backwards on three occasions.

In between these frustrating periods Ribb scored two converted tries through the prolific winger Michael Robinson, and the ever-improving Oliver Drew. Kerrigan kicked another penalty to take the home side’s lead to 19 - 14 with the clock running down.

From kick-off the home side retained the ball well, as they had done all afternoon, but the ball was knocked on and lively scrum-half Callum Mathew seized the chance and broke blind before feeding winger Robinson who was tackled just short.

Ribbs’ forwards were first there and after another three phases Alex Dew crashed over with Tom Davidson converting to give the visitors a narrow win with the last play of the game, at 21-19 to the visitors.

The victory signalled their tenth win on the bounce and with six games to go the title is still in Ribbs’ hands.

This week sees them travel again for a re-arranged fixture at Bramley who have improved in recent weeks.

Their latest win comes after a 36-3 over Huddersfield Laund Hill the previous week.