Yorkshire One: Bradford & Bingley 34, Bridlington 28

FIVE wins from five games, each with a bonus point for scoring four tries, has put Bradford & Bingley four points clear at the top.

However, for the second time in six weeks, Bridlington returned to the east coast believing they could have won the game.

Had they possessed a kicker with the unstinting accuracy of the Bees' Gerhard Nortier, they would surely have landed at least three of the four eminently kickable penalties they missed and could have claimed the win by that route.

However, it was another incident late in the game which had the Seasiders' hackles rising as they believed they had pinched a late score when the referee appeared to award a try and then change his mind as the Bridlington scrum half Otis Lloyd slapped down a pass from Richard Scull and flopped on the loose ball to claim a five-pointer.

It clearly should not have been awarded as a try as the visiting player had knocked the ball forward in the act of intercepting Scull's pass but it appeared the referee's first intention was to award the try.

It was not the only decision the official made that had one or other set of supporters in uproar, and yet again Bradford & Bingley fell foul of the referee on about three times as many occasions as their visitors.

Bridlington, beaten 24-23 in the Yorkshire Cup at Wagon Lane on the last day of August, opened the game in sprightly form and were on the scoresheet after five minutes.

The Bees full back Shaun Driver made a complete hash of a tackle out wide to allow Bridlington in at the corner but it took only three minutes for the home side to reply as the visiting pack were demolished at the scrum, allowing Tom Cummins to dot down under the sticks. Nortier adding the extras.

Bradford & Bingley's pack had the visiting eight on roller skates for most of the afternoon, and it was no surprise that three of the four home scores came from close-quarter rumbles to the line.

One such score arrived on 24 minutes as skipper Brett Mitchell was able to plough over after a drive from a line-out.

With a 14-7 lead and command of the forward battle established, the Bees were undone by very poor tackling and defensive alignment in their backs as Bridlington levelled the scores on 29 minutes.

However, the home pack continued to exert pressure whenever they could in the scrum and in the mauls, but the referee's whistle kept them from adding any further scores until the 38th minute when Cummins flopped over the line from the back of a scrum.

That was the final score of the half, and inside five minutes of the second, the Bees were 28-14 in the lead as centre and man of the match Lachlan Moore burst through to collect his sixth try of the season.

Bridlington soon rallied and began to dictate the game, with full back Oliver Stephenson prominent in everything they tried.

On 52 minutes, it was Stephenson who skipped through the Bees defence to the line to bring his side within seven.

Nortier then slotted a penalty to stretch the lead back to ten points but that man Stephenson, now operating at fly half, was soon back to set up a score out to the left.

With only three points between the sides and the visitors looking lively with ball in hand, Nortier eased home nerves by landing a drop goal on 65 minutes to extend the lead to six.

With Josh Seal in the sin-bin, the Bees needed to be at their best defensively, and rugby chairman Martin Whitcombe also decided to shift his personnel round, bringing Scull in from outside centre to scrum half and shifting Sam Jeffries out to the wing.

This undoubtedly allowed Scull to be more directly involved in the game but in the final minutes the hand of his opposite number stopping his pass out to Nortier looked to have turned the game in Bridlington's favour until the referee corrected himself and did not allow a try.