YMCA agonisingly went down 20-18 at Heath in Yorkshire I as fly-half Ryan Piper notched an injury-time try for the Calderdale side to snatch victory.
It was the second time in a fortnight that YM had lost by a two-point margin, having been beaten 22-20 on the opening day by Scarborough.
Both teams were looking for their first win of the season, Yorkshire I new boys Heath having lost heavily to Sandal the previous week.
And it was they who looked to have more of a gameplan and the wherewithall to execute it.
Heath took the lead when centre Chris Merrick collected and broke the first line of defence, to dummy his way over close to the posts for a well taken try, converted by Piper after 20 minutes.
YMCA’s response was immediate, when Under 18 centre Gavin Stead, making his first-team debut, stunned Heath by reading a pass brilliantly to race through and intercept and sprint 40m to the line and score under the posts.
Dave Holmes added the conversion to level, and then provided the perfect foil for back row forward Jamie Eastwood, who after stripping the ball from Heath’s No8, burst through the defence and sold an outrageous dummy to the winger, before sidestepping and racing over the line.
Holmes missed the conversion, but added a penalty just before the interval to give the visitors a 15-7 point cushion.
Piper and Holmes exchanged penalties early in the second half, at which point YM appeared happy to settle for what they had, while the home side were determined not to go down without a fight.
Another Piper penalty reduced the deficit to five points, ensuring a frantic final few minutes.
Heath continued to look the more composed and organised side, working together with a sense of purpose, while YM surrendered the ball too easily, and failed to make tackles.
The tactic of hanging on to the slender lead was always likely to prove their undoing, and so it proved.
With YM going backwards in disarray, Heath took a quick tap penalty, worked the ball out to the wing, where fly-half Piper was on hand to take the final pass and force his was through a narrow gap to score in the corner.
And it was he who put the final nail in the coffin when he converted his own try from the touchline.
Although there were the usual good contributions from David Rees, Holmes, Eastwood and the two young debutants (Stead and Adam Ryder) coach Carl Thewlis will need to think hard about the commitment shown by the majority of players before they tackle Sandal next week.
YMCA: Belton, Wulfe, Rees, Travis (Franks 66), Stead, Holmes, Ryder, Van Niekirk, Joblin, Jordan (Dobson 70), Pearson, Walker, Coulson (Anderson 63), Eastwood, Bracken.
