MAN in form Peter Thomson bagged his fourth goal in three games as hard to beat Lancaster City made their point at windswept Harrogate.

The Dolly Blues are now unbeaten on their travels since October and are on a five-game streak without defeat - as they look to press for the Conference North play-offs.

And yet again they displayed grit, guts and determination after falling behind in a mere 21 seconds.

Trees around the Wetherby Road ground had been felled by overnight gales and the towering Joe McMahon must have been affected by the storm as he put through his own net while trying to head Grant Black's cross clear of goal.

The score was oddly credited to Marc Smith but it was McMahon's embarrassment that City went on to save.

"It was an awful start with the own goal in the first minute. But after that we started to control the game and played some decent stuff," says manager Phil Wilson. And he was spot on.

Some of the Lancaster football was delightful despite the strong wind and they started to dominate proceedings.

Okay, Jamie Speare had to scramble back to his goal line after a Roy Carroll-esque moment as Harrogate huffed and puffed with the wind at their backs.

But the longer the first half went on the more City looked likely to score with the impressive Ryan-Zico Black and the equally strong-running Neil Prince causing panic in the home defence.

Black forced a good save out of Paul Pettinger after outstanding work from Tony Sullivan on the right while the goalkeeper scrambled well to push a Prince free kick away.

But the best moment of the game brought City level four minutes before the break.

Harrogate failed to clear their lines and Steve Jones found Thomson in the area. Three defenders surrounded Thierry' with his back to goal, but he controlled the ball and turned well before spearing a low shot into the corner of the net.

It was class from Thomson and was even appreciated by Town boss John Reed: "That lad did really well for his goal."

The wind was too strong after the break and short City passes ran 30 or 40 yards, allowing Harrogate to apply pressure, although Black rushed a shot in a good position when he could have done better.

But for all Harrogate's pressure, the big talking points after the break involved City attacks. First, Sullivan was felled by a clear elbow from Lee Featherstone and Lancaster were livid when referee Alan Geddes only produced a yellow card.

And then Geddes further infuriated City when he waved away penalty appeals after Jones went down as he challenged for a Brian Moogan cross.

It looked a clear penalty and City nearly paid for their misfortune when Prince smartly cleared a Smith shot off the line at the other end.

Both Wilson and Reed went to see the referee after the game with Wilson certainly less than pleased.

"I thought the referee was poor," says the manager. "I think that over the course of the 90 minutes a lot of what you would call 50/50 decisions went the way of Harrogate. I am not saying he was in their favour, I am saying he was poor."

CITY: Speare, Scott, Sparrow, McMahon, Uberschar, Sullivan (Moogan 75), Jones, Prince, Elderton, Black, Thomson. Subs (not used): Yeomans, Hollis, Foxcroft, Bates.