A late Matthew Burke penalty secured a draw for the Newcastle Falcons against Leeds Tykes but it was not enough to maintain their interest in the Powergen Cup.

It seemed as if the Tykes' mini-revival would continue after David Doherty and Tom Biggs tries in either half had given the home side a three-point lead with three minutes remaining.

But a prodigious Burke effort on the half-way line, which took his tally for the match to eight points, rescued Falcons from defeat.

The Australia international had the chance to give his side victory with the last kick of the match but was unsuccessful with the touchline penalty.

Falcons had hopes of progressing to the semi-finals but the draw was not enough as victory for Llanelli Scarlets meant the Welsh region became the first side to enter the latter stages of the reconstructed cup.

The visitors made two changes to the side which beat London Wasps 17-15 in the Guinness Premiership last weekend, with wingers Joe Shaw and James Hoyle replacing the injured Tom May and Mathew Tait, who is on England sevens duty.

Tykes rested the experienced Andre Snyman, Scott Morgan and Justin Marshall and gave debuts to Andy Rock at wing and number eight Roland Reid while Kearnan Myall made his full debut alongside captain Stuart Hooper in the second row.

In an entertaining start Newcastle took a second-minute lead through a Burke penalty before the Tykes deservedly equalised in the 12th minute through Gordon Ross.

After a period of sustained pressure - 18-year-old scrum-half Danny Care impressing - the home side finally crossed the try line when a neat Ross pass allowed full-back David Doherty to dance his way through the Falcons defence.

Ross converted to make it 10-3 after 20 minutes and the imperious Ross was to the fore again nine minutes later with an impressive drop goal as the Tykes continued to dominate.

But, on a rare visit to the opposition half, the Falcons forwards pushed flanker Cory Harris over the tryline after an impressive maul from a lineout. Burke failed with the touchline conversion.

The Falcons sensed a weakness in the Tykes' pack and continued to drive forward for the remainder of the half.

Such was the pressure on the Tykes' defence that hooker Gordon Bullock was sin-binned seconds before half-time for killing the ball when the visitors were inches from the whitewash.

Luckily for Bulloch the Falcons were unable to take advantage of their extra man and instead the home side extended their lead through Tom Biggs.

The winger, making his first appearance in three weeks after recovering from an ankle injury, pounced on a Ross kick over the defence to give his side an 18-8 lead after 54 minutes.

Ross' accuracy at goal seemed to fail him early in the second-half as he missed with the conversion and a penalty awarded before the try.

The Scottish international was to rue his profligacy as the Falcons came back to within three points of the Tykes thanks to a Joe Shaw try.

An inside pass from substitute Dave Walder allowed the England Under-21 international to sidestep Doherty and score underneath the posts, Burke converted.

The Falcons came close to scoring in the 70th minute when a lovely Jamie Noon run and long pass created room for Shaw on the wing, but stout tackling from the Tykes halted the winger.