Rugby union: Thornensians reach Yorkshire Silver Trophy final

Thornensians booked their place in the Yorkshire Silver Trophy final with a thrilling 22-21 win over derby rivals Goole at Coulman Road.

Having completed a Yorkshire Two double over the Doncaster side this season Goole started as favourites.

They dominated the first quarter but had to settle for a third-minute penalty – electing to kick for position on two other occasions rather than go for goal again.

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It took Thorne until the second quarter to mount an attack of note and it was against the run of play when fly-half Tom Holt sliced through the Goole defence before giving centre Rob Brown the chance to side-step his way over under the post for a 24th minute try converted by the half-back.

Goole reduced the deficit with a second penalty but fell further behind just before the break when Holt carved out the chance for centre Zak Holgate to touch down to make it 12-6.

Thorne, who were down to 14 men at the time, fell behind again in stoppage time when the visitors grabed an injury-time converted try.

Goole opened up a 16-12 lead when kicking a third penalty three minutes after the restart.

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It soon became 21-12 following some good work by the Goole backs.

But with skipper James Fenwick leading the way, Thornensians started to get on top again and back-rower Ryan Pilley touched down for a converted try after the home pack had driven their opponents back at a scrum.

Holt again added the extras to leave his side, who had started to dominate the forward exchanges, trailing by just two points.

That’s the way it stood until a couple of minutes from time when Holt converted a penalty from 30 metres out after Goole had seen a second forward sin-binned in the final quarter.

Still the drama hadn’t finished and the visitors would have pipped the home side had a late drop goal attempt from the halfway gone over.

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