On paper, mid-table West against table-topping Westoe, this doesn't look like that bad a result, but in truth West will be kicking themselves that it wasn't a little bit closer come the final whistle. Two tries in the opening ten minutes of the second half undid all the effort West had put in before the break and after that, the result never really looked in doubt.

West can take some encouragement from the fact that they competed well with Westoe, who now have one hand on the league title after Hull's defeat by Sheffield Tigers, but this result, and perhaps more importantly last week's, pulls us into the wrong half of the table. Two points separate 6th and 10th places and with things that tight at least one win from the next two away games (at Morley and Darlington) seems like a necessity.

In truth, had Westoe kicked their goals the scoreline may well have been more flattering in their favour. Missing regular kicker Sam Rasch they turned down two early kickable penalties and, having failed to add any points from an opening period of pressure, they saw Paul Moss slot over a long range effort after 6 minutes with West's first attack. Moss then doubled the lead 4 minutes later with another well struck penalty before John McFarlane missed two regulation attempts which would have levelled the scores.

Referee Wayne Falla has never been afraid to use the yellow cards on his previous visits to Brinkburn and the same was true today, a total of 6 shown by the end of the game. Westoe hooker Nigel Douglas was first to go, and he was joined 5 minutes later by Tom Dixon, both players dismissed for persistent infringement. With the resulting penalty kicked to touch Westoe got the rolling maul advancing towards the line and the yellow card was out again, this time Aaron Myers adjudged to have committed a professional foul.

With West down to 13 men Westoe looked to press home the advantage but Andrew Cheslin made a superb try saving tackle on James Fitzpatrick and despite McFarlane adding a penalty 3 minutes into injury time it seemed West had held on well considering the two man deficit.

It was crucial West did the same in the opening minutes of the second half but the opposite was true. Westoe were awarded a five-metre scrum and with a pushover try looking likely before the scrum broke up, referee Falla awarded a penalty try. Things soon got worse when, seconds after Dixon and Myers returned, Westoe fly-half David Haswell ghosted through a gap in the West backline to score, despite a premature celebration casting a little doubt over the grounding of the ball. McFarlane added both simple conversions and a 6-0 lead had become a 17-6 deficit in just 10 playing minutes.

From this point on West never recovered and never really looked like adding further points. Westoe closed the game out like the league leaders they are and West couldn't take advantage of various sin-binnings reducing the visitors to 14. Handling errors ended most promising attacking moves and a solo-break from Gareth Kerr aside, there was little spark in the West attack.

It's not all doom and gloom though, if West can recapture some of their first half form from today in the next three games there's every reason to believe all three are winnable.

West: I Dixon, Kerr, Hodgson, Moss (Thomas), A Cheslin, Connolly, Williamson, Carr, A Dixon, Stewart (Coates), T Dixon, D Boatman, Morrison, Myers, Vinnicombe.
Rep not used: Henderson

Pens: Moss 2
Sin-bin: T Dixon, Myers

Westoe: McFarlane, Moala, G Haswell, Fitzpatrick, Olugbode, D Haswell, Judson, Nesbitt, Douglas, Elliot, Bird, Younghusband, Foster, Wood, Dye.
Reps: Richardson, Charlton, McKeown

Tries: Penalty, D Haswell
Cons: McFarlane 2
Pens: McFarlane
Sin-bin: Douglas, Fitzpatrick, McKeown, ?

Referee: Wayne Falla [Northern Group]