Macclesfield battled to a narrow victory at Priory Park after a penalty try in the last five minutes gave the home side a dramatic late winner.

Flawless fly-half Tom Eaton contributed 10 points to the scoreline and didn’t miss a single chance throughout.

Forwards Billy Robinson and Mike Finnemore both returned to the starting line-up after being out through injury, while Peter Hardwick impressed in his first start of the season, replacing winger Josh Fowles.

Macclesfield took hold of possession from kick-off, passing the ball well and impressing from the kick-off as the likes of Tom Mantell and Edd Stobart were powerful driving forward.

Elliot Brierley had a good chance to run through the centre of the pitch, dodging several tackles as he found the gaps in Wharfedale’s defence.

However his storming run left him with little support, and as he struggled to offload and Wharfedale regained possession.

After 10 minutes Wharfedale had their first real chance to take the lead, but centre Lloyd Davies was off-target with his close-range penalty and the match remained scoreless.

The visitors took back possession for the next five minutes, and at the 15-minute mark Finnemore saw yellow for a technical foul on Alastair Allan.

Minutes later James Gough was able to score Wharfedale’s first try down the left wing, but Davies was off-target once again to restrict the Yorkshire side’s advantage to 5-0.

As Finnemore returned to the field, Macclesfield did well to turn the momentum and earn a penalty high up the field for Eaton to convert.

Minutes later the Blues captain scored his second penalty from nearly 40 yards out to edge the Blues into a 6-5 lead.

Macclesfield defended well to hold Wharfedale to just one first-half try as they spent large periods with one man off the field, as Billy Robinson also saw yellow after 33 minutes.

Just before the half-time whistle Macclesfieldwent further into the lead with a converted penalty try after a well-worked scrum forced the foul.

In the second half, Wharfedale again looked to be the better side, and just three minutes in Daniel Solomi scored after a quick switch of field position. The ball was passed out wide to Nicholas Taylor on the right wing, who offloaded to Solomi. Davies’ conversion brought the score to 13-12.

At 51 minutes Wharfedale scored again, this time coming from James Tyson, after the ball was kicked back out wide for Tyson to drive over the line.

Alan Marsh saw yellow as a result of the try, and the Blues kicked off more determined than ever to get back into it.

The two sides struggled to convert their chances as the clock ticked down, the ball turning over every few minutes as the weather started to worsen.

With the full 80 minutes coming to an end, Macclesfield had a scrum high up the field that resulted in another penalty try; Eaton converted once more to go 20-17.

Tempers frayed seconds before the full-time whistle went and Blues replacement Joe Clowes was on the receiving end of an infuriated Wharfedale forward’s pent-up aggression.

The referee ignored the riled home crowd and kept his cards in his pockets, only to blow the whistle a minute later for the Blues to celebrate their fourth win of the season.

Head coach Geoff Wappett said: "I thought it was a great result. It wasn’t a classic match; it was a cold, wet and windy December afternoon, it was a day when you had to keep flogging away and there was always going to be a few mistakes.

"I was disappointed with the way we shaped just after half-time, but while we went behind during that period, we had the determination to stick at it and keep going.

"Considering we played half an hour of that game with one man short, we had three people binned and they had none; that was a big disadvantage.

"There’s going to be some tough old games like that, and that sort of character we’re going to need as much and more again.

"I think next week’s match could be a real tight tussle but next week we could go to Old Albanians and take four points. We have to travel with that sort of faith in ourselves."

Eaton spoke of the difficulty of playing with a man short: "It was massively difficult and frustrating," he insisted.

"It was fantastic that the scrum didn’t even creak, even when we were down to seven in the forward pack.

"It was good to get all my chances on target, I felt good before the game and hadn’t been able to practice my kicking this week because of the weather.

"It’s going to be tough next week, they’ve got some good players; a good back-line with a lot of experience and quality.

"It will be a challenge but we’ve got our set-pieces right recently and with that we’ve got a chance against anybody in this league."

To follow Twitter updates throughout the Blues’ trip to Old Albanian this Saturday (kick-off 3pm) follow @MaccRUFC.