Bees made to pay for their errors as steely Sheffield triumph

In the opening seven rounds of fixtures the Bees have lost away from home to the top three sides in North One East.

At Dinnington and Pocklington the losing margin was 12 this time it was eight and once again the Bees thought they had done enough to at least come away with a losing bonus point.

Unfortunately they contributed to their own downfall with a high numbers of turnovers and penalties.

The game was error strewn from first to last with the Bees' line-out malfunctioning at crucial times.

With Sheffield leading 5-3 and just five minutes to go, it seemed that all the Bees needed to do was to keep the ball in the home 22 and either hope that a penalty came their way or that pack would get close enough to drive for the line.

The Bees got close two or three times, but each visit was cleared with interest as the referee penalised them at the breakdown.

The ball was then in Bees territory and as bodies piled up to the right of the Bees posts, it was almost inevitable that a Sheffield penalty would arrive.

Jimmy Pearson stepped up to slot the three points, but there was still time for the Bees to get back up the field.

The irrepressible Tom Cokell led the charge in the pack and James Morton looked a treat as the Bees launched late pressure.

Once again the ball was turned over and Pearson sent the Bees back deep into their own territory.

As the Bees struggled to clear their lines another penalty was conceded and Pearson sealed the win with the kick.

Richard Scull had opened the scoring for the visitors after 31 minutes with a penalty after the Sheffield pack had been bent out of shape at a scrum.

There was the possible option of going to the scrum again, but the three points on the board was the safer choice and the Bees were in front.

The lead lasted all of three minutes as the Sheffield backline put together one of the few flowing of the game to manufacture an overlap out wide on the right, with Rupert Broadley dotting down.

The Bees backs tried to get something going in return and a number of promising moves up the right touchline raised the tempo of the game without ever really threatening a score.

The Bees were missing top try scorer Shaun Driver and without the abrasive presence of Richard Tafa up the middle of the field, they lacked any real midfield punch to get over the gain line.

The introduction of Morton from the bench gave Stuart Dixon's men a lift but errors nullified much of his good work.