By Owen Phillips

Nottingham's dream of a first Twickenham appearance in their 132-year history may have ended in the most gut-wrenching of circumstances but the club have no time to feel sorry for themselves.

Director of rugby Glenn Delaney watched his side turn in a monumental display to lead National One leaders Leeds Carnegie by four points deep into stoppage time in a compelling National Trophy semi-final.

But the Green and Whites saw their hopes smashed when relentless late pressure eventually told and England Sevens back Rob Vickerman went over in the left-hand corner to secure a 14-13 win.

Vickerman's score keeps the all-conquering Yorkshire side on course for an impressive league and cup double.

And despite Sunday's setback, Nottingham also emerge with a tremendous amount of credit.

We are absolutely gutted but we have to pick ourselves up and move on Craig Hammond

Delaney at least deserves the chance to reflect on a gutsy, gargantuan effort and an heroic display that saw his side out-think and out-battle their much-fancied opponents for much of a pulsating match at Meadow Lane.

However, as soon as the pain and pride passes, the club's perilous financial predicament will once again quickly jump to the fore.

A date at English rugby's headquarters would have provided a wonderful day out at the end of a traumatic season.

But it would also have meant a massive cash boost to a club who announced in November that they needed to raise £150,000 just to survive until the end of the season.

Tireless fundraising work off the pitch, along with staff taking wage cuts and the fine cup run, has helped ease the fears of Nottingham no longer being able to sustain its rugby club - at least for the short term.

And that togetherness that has been so vital in the past few troubled months was equally evident on the pitch on Sunday.

Delaney's men have been chasing a top-four finish in the league throughout the season and they still have a great chance of doing so.

The performance on Sunday will certainly give all associated with the club renewed optimism. But the prospect of having to "go again" or "dust themselves down and pick themselves up" as Delaney put it, is a daunting one.

But not, it appears, to Delaney or his inspirational skipper Craig Hammond, who turned in a man-of-the-match display.

The Nottingham forward said: "We were probably the better team in the game but if you can't finish it then you don't deserve to win.

"We are absolutely gutted but we have to pick ourselves up and move on.

"Finishing fourth in the league could mean a place in the Anglo Welsh Cup next season and that could bring Premiership and Celtic League rugby to Meadow Lane.

"The atmosphere was absolutely amazing on Sunday; I can only imagine what it would be like with Leicester Tigers or the Ospreys coming to take us on at Meadow Lane next season.

"I am proud of the players for their efforts."

Faced with a backdrop of an uncertain financial future and competing against better supported sides with bigger squads and more funds, Nottingham appear to be punching above their weight.

606: DEBATE I don't think National One can compete as a pro league. There just isn't the money or support. Notts County get five times more to there games than we do tallshort

Not that you could tell from a brutal opening 20 minutes against Leeds that were littered with bone-crunching tackles, massive hits and a punch-up or two.

Nottingham did a superb job of proving that pre-match favourites Leeds were not going to have it all their own way.

When the early squabbling subsided, Tim Taylor capitalised on a glaring defensive error to score under the posts and David Jackson added a conversion and penalty to help build a 10-6 half-time lead.

Jackson extended Nottingham's advantage with a fabulous long-range penalty soon after the re-start.

Leeds replied with a penalty of their own before Jackson went agonisingly close to putting the hosts seven points clear only to see his penalty come back off the post.

The fear was that would be a costly miss and so it proved.

Inevitably Leeds piled forward in the closing stages and when Joe Duffey became the second Nottingham forward to be sin-binned, Leeds camped in the home half for the final eight minutes of normal time and around the same amount of added time.

The pressure was relentless but still Nottingham resisted.

Twice replacement scrum-half Chris Pilgrim tried to clear into touch to end the game and twice his kick was charged down.

And the burden of playing two 10-minute spells a man light eventually told on an exhausted home pack as Leeds worked the ball out wide and Vickerman's try edged them into the Twickenham final.

Nottingham retained their dignity in defeat and made little of the near nine minutes of added time.

And even though it may have felt like the end of the world at the final whistle, there are far more important battles to be won in the coming months.

Unfortunately the commitment, passion and sheer determination shown in Sunday's display will not be enough if it is not backed up with cold hard cash.

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