Wibsey, 17-0 behind after just 12 minutes, were in need of a saviour as the first half wound its way towards a close.

And then, all of a sudden, it appeared from the top right-hand corner of the pitch.

No, it wasn't a rampant replacement to stem the tide of Knaresborough attacks that were threatening to engulf the hosts.

It was the unmistakable shape of a hot-air balloon and, just to remind everyone how close we were to Odsal, it was emblazoned in red, amber and black colours.

As it moved across the pitch it dropped so low that referee John Shaw halted play, fearing it was either going to land on the pitch, thus endangering players and spectators; career into the fencing at the end of the gardens or fail to climb enough to clear the nearby houses.

But, as gently as it had dropped, the occupants of the basket, who in hindsight seemed to know exactly what they were doing, gave several blasts on the burners and rose above all the obstacles, soon becoming a distant spec on the horizon.

Having played up the considerable slope and not defended well in general, Wibsey reached half-time trailing 31-0.

The second half was more of a stalemate, but Wibsey did manage tries by fly half Jamie Vogel and, in stoppage time, second row Mark Ryan.

Former Wibsey coach Ian Gregson performed a watching brief from the sidelines and said: "We made too many errors in the first half, and you cannot afford to give the opposition tries.

"Wibsey have a small squad, and if you have five or six lads out injured like we have at the moment, and they include some of our best players, then you are always going to struggle."

Missing this match were scrum half Karl Walker (knee ligaments), flanker Rob Greenwood (broken arm), South African centre Rudi Kleinhans (ribs), No 8 Richard Hands (back) and fly half Andy Todd (unavailable).

As Greenwood, who has been helping with the coaching, said afterwards: "What we need is a player-coach who is coming to the end of his career." Watching the early stages of the first half certainly proved a painful experience for Greenwood.

Knaresborough looked dangerous every time they had ball in hand, and they took full advantage of some hesistancy at the back of a Wibsey scrum by scrum half Brad McHale in the second minute. James Harris stormed through the middle to score, Pete Wrigley converting, and two minutes later Harris was over again, this time after home full back Dan Horsfall had let a kick downfield elude him and then threw the ball in front of him when trying to pass infield.

In the 12th minute McHale threw a 'hospital' pass which was hacked on by the visitors, culminating in left winger Phil Shaw crossing in the corner.

Knaresborough were then denied a pushover try in the left-hand corner and after that unusual hot-air balloon incident, fly half David Slater banged over three penalties for the visitors.

They came in the 29th, 32nd and 35th minutes, Ryan being penalised for a short-arm on the second and sin-binned for punching after a melee preceding the third. Ryan was caught protecting his No 8 Mark Carter, who was being set upon by two Knaresborough players.

Then, to add insult to injury, Jamie Vogel failed to find touch with a penalty in first-half injury time, Knaresborough ran it back and Harris got his hat-trick try in the left-hand corner after a pass by full back Dave Murray.

A good drive by prop Bob Wood paved the way for fly half Jamie Vogel to plunge over in the 67th minute, Horsfall being awarded a dubious conversion by the Knaresboro-ugh touch judge. Ryan got his reward with an injury-time try after Jamie Vogel had switched play to the left.