A late reshuffle saw Michael Taylor come in to replace Tom Dixon, Stephen Stockdale moving up to second row allowing Taylor to take his place in the back row.

With the wind at their backs the Bees started well and were on the scoreboard with only four minutes gone. Clean ball from a scrum in the 22 allowed the backs to work an opening for full-back Aidan Scully to cross for the try.

Despite facing the elements we were getting plenty of attacking possession in the visitors half and  Andrew Foreman eventually capitalised, levelling things up on 18 minutes with a typical sniping try in the right corner after Stockdale had gone close.

With a flurry of penalties going both ways referee Barker eventually lost patience and sent Andrew Davies to the sin-bin after a lineout infringement, and he was followed minutes later by Bees skipper Guy Ford.

Just as Davies returned and with the half drawing to a close we took full advantage of the extra man. Bradford & Bingley opted not to challenge at a lineout 15 metres out but still failed to stop the rolling maul getting going and from a few metres out Stockdale peeled off and touched down for a try. Having hit the right post with his first effort from a similar position Waites narrowly missed the conversion to the left of the posts.

Stead pulled three points back for the Bees with a penalty in first half injury time and the 10-8 interval scoreline was probably a fair reflection of the even contest the game had been.

Waites missed an early shot at goal in the second half but would extend our lead further with two penalties in quick succession 10 minutes later, the second a great long-range effort from just inside half-way.

The game had featured plenty of backchat from both sides for referee Barker to deal with and when Davies reacted angrily to conceding a penalty in the shadow of our own posts he was shown his second yellow card and was forced to watch the remaining fifteen minutes from the touchline. Stead made no mistake with the simple penalty and the deficit was cut to just five points.

Aside from two more penalty efforts from Waites the visitors were looking the more lively in the closing stages but too much of their play was taking place in their own half and a couple of handling errors proved costly when they did get into the 22. Running from deep three minutes into injury time led the the game clinching try but it was Greg Edwards who scored it, intercepting a pass and racing clear, Waites adding the conversion to seal the win.


West: Waites, C Cheslin (Butcher 65), Watson, G Robinson, Edwards, G Foreman, A Foreman, Carr, Bailey, Coates (Wood 65), Davies, Stockdale, D Boatman, J Boatman, Taylor.

Tries: A Foreman (18), Stockdale (37), Edwards (83)
Con: Waites (83)
Pens: Waites 2 (55, 57)

Sin-bin: Davies (25-35)
Sent-off: Davies (64) [2nd Yellow]


Bradford & Bingley: Scully, Stead, B Greaves, Brimacombe, Hetherington, P Greaves, Scull, Moss, Brown, Peglau, Bairstow, Mitchell, Ford, Cochrane, Brewer.
Reps: Wederall, Thornton, Campbell

Try: Scully (4)
Pens: Stead 2 (40, 64)

Sin-bin: Ford (30-40)

Referee: Michael Barker [Northern Group]