FOR the second successive match, YMCA were deprived of victory in controversial circumstances right at the death.
Two weeks ago it was a ruled-out 'try' against York, while this time it was Bridlington who were the beneficiaries of a penalty award deep in stoppage time which denied YM the two points.
It was not a pretty game, and strewn with penalties by an official who failed to take a firm grip.
Bridlington, mindful of how they won 36-26 at Laund Hill earlier in the season, again kept play among the forwards, the ball rarely going beyond stand-off Muru, who simply kicked for field position.
Most of the time the game consisted of a seething mass of bodies moving backwards, forwards and sideways with the ball never in sight, at times resembling the annual village game in Hacksey Hood where two villages come together for a day's pushing and shoving in the name of tradition.
Eventually the pressure told and Brid's No7 Ben Lawry managed to emerge from a pile of bodies to claim the first score.
The usually reliable Muru failed with the conversion, but did add a penalty, awarded for talking back.
YM began to run the ball at every opportunity, and after Stuart Morton was tackled just short of the line, they managed to maintain momentum and Josh Marshall switched wings to make the extra man and with his first touch crossed the line for his first senior score.
James Bracken found himself the 'guilty' party after a fracas with his opposite number, the YM back rower going to the sin-bin, while the Brid man got away with it, which signalled the start of the visitors losing their discipline, caused by frustration.
Bracken's back row partner Steve Anderson was next in the 'bin' for talking back as Brid led 8-5 at the break.
Morton was unlucky not to score after the re-start, beating everyone for pace to a grubber kick, which unfortunately for YM stuck on a patch of mud with the line at Morton's mercy.
The visitors also threw away the chance of two kickable penalties, electing to go for the line, but coming away empty-handed both times, but they did manage to keep up the pressure and eventually the ball was flicked down the line and winger Conrad Dent jinked and beat his marker to score in the corner.
Ugly brawls began to break out as the referee lost control, while Brid hooker Lee and YM second row Simon Whitehead both had spells in the bin.
Muru missed two more penalty shots, and it looked like YM would hang on for the points until disaster struck late in stoppage time.
There was a clash of heads followed by flying fists in a maul and the referee adjudged Bracken guilty and sent him off. From the ensuing penalty Muru slotted over the winning score, leaving the visitors believing they had been 'refereed' out of it for a second successive game.
YMCA: Rees, Marshall, Morton, Iosefa, Dent; Sarjeant, Wolf; Watson, Guegue, McSwiney, Pearson, Whitehead, Bracken, Anderson, Walker. Subs (not used) Travis, Nyahoda, Farringdon.
