STOURBRIDGE hearts were broken and promotion hopes were dented by a last gasp penalty at Stourton Park.

The hosts took on Sheffield Tigers looking for revenge after losing to the visitors earlier in the season but the northerners started the brighter and dominated the opening minutes if the match.

Against the run of play Stour scored first with a try for Phil Bowden after Josh Trinham stole the ball on the right, Rob Forbes added the extras.

Sheffield hit back and James Broadley ran past missed tackles to score wide in the right, more poor defending allowed Edward Simmons to power over and put Tigers in the lead.

The rest of the half was played out on the middle third of the pitch, Stour’s pack had the upper hand but there was no way through and the score remained unchanged to be 7-10 at half time.

Stour regained the lead after the restart with their familiar catch and drive tactics, tries in the increasingly heavy snow for Nick Murphy and Stef Thorp with a conversion from Forbes did the damage but Tigers never looked a beaten side.

They regained a one point lead with tries for Simmons and Matthew Adcock to set up a gripping finale.

The hosts were dealt a further blow when a mistake by Joe Heatley gave possession to Sheffield and Tom Farrell capitalised with a try wide right.

On 75 minutes Stour pressure, driven by the introduction of Rod Petty, paid off with a try for Mark George and a conversion from Forbes.

With five minutes to go all Stour had to do was hold out for a one point win but with 80 minutes on the clock they conceded a penalty 22 meters out and Farrell slotted home.

Final score Stourbridge 26 - 28 Sheffield Tigers.