FINGERNAILS were whittled away at the Mennaye as the Cornish Pirates came from 13 points down to win by one over Cross Keys.

The boot and brain power of fly-half Jason Tovey had pushed the Welsh outfit into a commanding lead and a controlling grip of the British & Irish Cup pool match. 

However a dramatic final 20 minutes saw the hosts turn the tables and force their way to maximum points from the tie.

The deal was sealed eight minutes from time when Laurence May sent a penalty between the posts after tries from Alex Cheesman and Jack Innard had closed the deficit to two points.

It had been a good start for the Pirates as with seven minutes gone, referee Andrew Jackson got fed up with Keys' pack not being diligent enough at the scrum or in driving mauls near their goal line and awarded a penalty try.

Discretion from the Pirates pack at the scrum would cost them seven points not long after as an early engagement call sparked a Keys move which saw Tovey's pass set up right wing Ashton Hewitt to touch down.

Tovey's conversion levelled matters up, but in the 18th minute the home forwards made amends as they piled over from a brilliant driving maul starting 21m out and ending with Cheesman scoring.

From this point until the break, Keys became the side in charge of the game with Tovey's kicking and tactical knowledge in the half backs proving to be invaluable.

Just before the half hour mark a cross field kick from him was perfectly judged by Hewitt who leaped ahead of Max Bodilly to claim it in the air before offloading to former Pirate Rhys Jones to score.

After converting this, Tovey added two penalties before the break and another try could have been scored, only for the home defence to hold Polu Uhi up in the goal area.

The second half was in need of a positive start from the Pirates if they wanted to get back into the game, but this did not occur as two minutes in Tovey slotted home a third penalty after Richard Lane breached the laws 25m from the posts.

Now nine points down, the Pirates appeared to wake from their slumber and nearly went over via Alex Dancer who was put through by Tom Riley, only to be stopped 15m from the line and with now support.

Just a minute later though it was try time for the hosts with May showing solid kicking prowess when he sent the ball cross field and into the hands of Lane to score his first points for the club since joining from Bath on dual registration.

May could not convert and five minutes later, the advantage for Keys became 13 points as visiting skipper Leon Andrew intercepted a loose Craig Holland pass in his own 22 to run over under the posts.

With 20 minutes left a calming influence was needed to sort the Pirates out if they stood a chance of fighting back.

There one man on the bench who was made for the job, legendary scrum-half Gavin Cattle.

Having replaced Stuart Townsend, he used all his experience to steer the Pirates' ship back in the course they needed.

Alongside Cattle's skills, the Pirates needed their forwards to start firing again and they did so on the hour mark when they battered Keys' scrum.

Following several attempts to get it going on the away team's 5m line, the host's dominance showed through and after Cheesman set off in the number eight position, the ball fell to recent England Under 20 call-up Innard to finish the job off.

May reduced the gap further with the extra two points, but almost straight from the kick off Tovey was handed another penalty in front of the sticks, making it 33-24.

It did not take long though for the Pirates to set up a grandstand finish as 120 seconds later they were trailing by just two.

Cattle's quick thinking with a tap penalty brought his team in the Keys' 22 before sending the ball out to the right for Bodilly, who then found Cheesman in support to crash over with May getting a tricky looking conversion effort spot on.

Momentum was now with the home side and their supporters bringing their voices to the fore with a thrilling finish on the cards.

They got exactly what they wanted as the seconds ticked down when the Pirates scrum over-ran the Keys' pack once more after after the ball was back out, the visitors were penalised on their own 22m line for not releasing.

Up stepped May with the kicking tee just to the left of the posts to fire it through.

Sitting just a point in front, the Pirates defence had to withstand a few more Keys attacks into their territory before the final whistle was blown.

They managed to ride the late storm with help being given by their opponents who on three separate occasions in the dying minutes knocked on. 

From a line-out in their half, the pirates knew time was nearly up and managed to keep the ball and recycle it before May was given the all clear to boot it out and finish a remarkable match off.

PIRATES: 15 Bodilly, 14 Holland (Jones, 60), 13 Riley (Hopkin, 67), 12 Dancer, 11 Lane, 10 May, 9 Townsend (Cattle, 50); 1 Andrew, 2 Elloway (Innard, 50), 3 Paver (Davies, 60), 4 Garratt, 5 Graulich, 6 Morgan (c, Stevens, 67), 7 Atkinson, 8 Cheesman.

REPS NOT USED: Barry.

TRIES: Penalty try (7), Cheesman (16, 66), Lane (45), Innard (60).

CONS: May 3/5.

PEN: May (72).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Alex Cheesman.

ATTENDANCE: 1,090.