WHARFEDALE'S 13-9 win over table-topping Sedgley Park enabled devotees to enjoy one of those special occasions which replenish pride and deliver a warm glow of satisfaction.

More importantly, the win brought two very useful points in the team's bid to win promotion to National Division One next season, adding another interesting result to a string of upsets which have made the division so absorbing this season.

A day which started and ended with the strident, ear-piercing tones of your own, your very own Ian Douglass on the mike unfolded along time-honoured lines, with the Greens at their obdurate, unyielding best.

It mattered not a jot that the game lacked fluent creativity, that their opponents were not the least bit champion in any respect or that the refereeing left something to be desired.

Such ancillary issues are of no consequence when the result has the numbers in the right columns and justice is seen to be done, which it undoubtedly was on this occasion.

Wharfedale thoroughly deserved their win and even the most myopic Park supporter could not deny them that, or erode the merit of the win on the basis of poor refereeing or a lacklustre effort by the Manchester team.

There was the added cameo of David Lister celebrating his 150th consecutive league game for the club to bring an extra dimension of satisfaction to the success.

He performed as he has throughout that run, winning ball at the front of the line with reassuring dependability and putting his shoulder to the wheel of a resilient defensive effort.

But like most successes of this sort, this was not a day for individual heroes. Everyone had part ownership of the result and if some were able to contribute more than others, no-one was less willing or able to cope with his share of the work-load.

The pack effort was without blemish. The front-row did a terrific job in the set-piece, the lineout outshone an uncertain effort by the opposition and the whole unit stuck to the challenge of defending territory and retaining possession with a will that Park had neither the passion nor the technique to outdo.

As ever, Ben Wade was a massive figure in another cameo role - his personal duel with Park No 8 and skipper Tim Fourie.

Wade has brought a strand of steel to the Wharfedale eight since his arrival last season and it is doubtful whether the side would even be in the division, much less competing for promotion, had he not arrived at The Avenue from Rotherham via Hull Ionians.

Apart from holding the forward effort together and giving the back-row a rock-solid reference point, Wade was also involved in both Wharfedale tries, which came in the first-half and gave them a lead they were to preserve to the end.

His first contribution was probably one of the simplest tries he has ever created. A driving maul had barely moved forward when Gareth Johnston appeared at speed on his outside, hugging the touchline and in place to make more rapid headway into the Park 22.

What Wade may not have realised when he laid on his pass for the wingman was that Park's serious negligence had left that side of the field completely unattended, Johnston cruising in untouched in a moment that would have left even a third-team coach incandescent with rage.

Wade's second contribution involved a bread-and-butter try from a pushover scrum, the Dalesmen first exerting pressure on the Park put-in at the same location to win the chance and Wade, though hampered by some desperate efforts to prevent the inevitable, making the touchdown.

Even these setbacks did not seem to fire any genuine urgency or anxiety in the Park camp, their confidence that the matter would eventually be rectified being in part fuelled by a brace of penalties from fly-half Ryno Ueckermann.

A penalty by Jonathan Davies gave the Dalesmen a 13-6 interval lead, which Ueckermann then cut with his third penalty early in the second-half.

A four-point deficit playing down the slope should have been well within the capabilities of a side with only one league defeat this season, but perhaps Park felt that another narrow win would automatically follow.

But their misplaced optimism did not take into account the fact that the Dalesmen have become much more adept at playing the long game in adversity, at keeping possession and keeping their defensive lines properly organised and staffed with men who do not accept that a try will inevitably come from the most threatening situations.

With Jonathan Davies proving to be a most accomplished deputy for fly-half David Pears, who departed early in the piece with a damaged calf, and the excellent Andy Baggett at centre proving the rock on which so many of Park's attacking efforts foundered, Wharfedale stood grimly to the task of keeping the opposition at bay, partly by tenacious defence, but also by taking play conservatively forward when good possession dictated a measure of enterprise.

Ironically, it was only in the closing stages of the game, when Park elected to throw the ball wide with a measure of desperate abandon, that they finally managed to unlock the Wharfedale defence.

Their first serious breakout ended in full-back Andy Hodgson producing a fine, match-saving tackle on full-back Arno de Jager in a one-on-one situation.

The second again involved Hodgson, who dealt with a kick ahead by the speedy Ross Bullough with a rather cruder technique. In the event, a touch judges flag, raised for an earlier offence on the opposite touchline, rendered futile the discussion on Hodgson's obstruction, the penalty award and the subsequent reversal because a Park player voiced a critical comment.

However, it did not absolve Mr Miller of a failure to do his job properly. Had the roles been reversed, Bullough - and Mr Miller - would have been at risk of lynch mob retribution.

In the event, on the premise that 'all's well that ends well', justice on the wider scale was properly served and the Dalesmen were left to celebrate another win in which high fliers have their wings clipped by a team of lads rolling up their sleeves and getting stuck in.

Wharfedale: A Hodgson (capt); J Davies, C Malherbe, A Baggett, G Johnston; D Pears (P Salashouri, 17), S Cottrell; P Peel, J Ogden, C Ingram, D Lister, A Capstick, A Jackson (P Evans, 76), H Verity, B Wade.

Sedgley Park: A de Jager; R Bullough, C Hassan, I Voortman, J Naylor; R Ueckermann, D McCormack; M Pinnock, R Oxley, H Thomas, J Swart, R Senior, M Lloyd (P Arnold, 60), K Yates, T Fourie (capt).

Referee: T Miller (RFU).