Yorkshire Division One: Bradford & Bingley 43 West Park Leeds 14

MARTIN Whitcombe was just glad to be eating his post-match meal of chicken and pasta in familiar surroundings – in Bradford & Bingley's clubhouse.

The Bees' director of rugby said: "After the Boxing Day floods, I thought that was it for the season," he confessed.

A panoramic view of a flood-devastated Wagon Lane memorably made it onto the backdrop of BBC television's Sunday morning weather forecast on December 27, and Whitcombe added: "Where we are sitting now was four foot under water.

"But we got more help than we thought we would from the rugby community, club members, supporters and other clubs such as Keighley, Bradford Salem and Ilkley.

"To be flooded once was unfortunate enough but the Boxing Day flood was our third of the winter, and was by far the worst, and I didn't think we would survive.

"But a huge factor was the JustGiving page that Lucy Cochrane set up, which raised £10,000-£11,000, and we also managed to keep the rugby side going and stay top of the table without having a home base, and for that we have to thank Paul March and Keighley Cougars."

As for the derby against West Park Leeds, which the Bees won to go nine points clear of second-placed Malton & Norton with four matches left, Whitcombe said: "West Park are fighting for their lives, and it wasn't a classic but we got what we wanted out of the game.

"It was just unfortunate that the match ended as it did and we hope that Phil (Adams) is all right after his broken leg, and we wish him all the best."

An innocuous-looking tackle on Adams with seven minutes left resulted in a compound fracture of the leg for the visitors' forward. With the hosts 29 points ahead, referee Daniel Woods sensibly decided to end the contest early.

West Park Leeds president Dick Aspey agreed, saying: "There was very little point in playing on, and we were already facing Mount Everest, with them being at the top of the table and us at the bottom, and the wind was always going to be a major factor when we played into it."

There was a minute's silence before kick-off in memory of Bees supporter Brian Chippindale, and the home side were soon two tries to the good.

West Park full back James Kear, watched by his dad John, who is head coach of Batley Bulldogs, had his kick charged down in the sixth minute for prop Ryan Wederell to score, and the visitors also lost prop Adrian Hargreaves to a bicep injury during that attack.

Visiting scrum half Andrew Cromack missed a penalty into the swirling wind two minutes later, and in the tenth minute, Bees skipper Lachlan Moore got their second try on the right while some of the players were having a brief set to on the left-hand side of the pitch near the changing rooms.

Fly half Shaun Driver added the conversion for 12-0 but, as the game became fragmented, West Park enjoyed their best spell of the match.

Their lock Clayton Hill showed his full-blooded commitment with a great tackle in the 24th minute before centre Sam Booth scored a try six minutes later after fly half Edward Crossland dummied inside and passed outside in a move that was straight off the training ground.

West Park's man of the match Crossland converted for 12-7, and that looked like being the half-time score until Bees prop Roger Raper momentarily became a rabbit in the headlights when he took a deflected kick and wondered what to do next in the second minute of stoppage time.

Eventually he ran forwards to commit the visitors' defence before offloading to supporting lock Harry Jeffrey, who sprinted 24 yards to score in the left-hand corner.

With occasional bursts of gunfire booming out in the distance, which soon presumably prompted a helicopter to mount a search for the source of the noise, Bradford & Bingley really cut loose in the second half.

With the sin-binning of West Park hooker Tom Howard for a deliberate knock-on threatening to lead to uncontested scrums in the 49th minute, the Bees opted instead to kick the penalty to the corner in front of the clubhouse verandah, flanker Masui Akauola (now playing hooker) forced his way over to secure the bonus point.

Five minutes later, veteran lock Richard Hughes scored after great footwork by Driver, and centre Fiddes and man of the match Moore – a beauty from Driver's delicate kick into midfield space – added other tries just before the hour.

Driver added three conversions. However, understrength West Park showed a spirit that just might help them survive in the 63rd minute with a try by winger Graham Foxton, Crossland converting.

The visitors lost prop Dan Stevens to the sin bin two minutes later, and eight minutes later came the cruel injury to Adams which brought the match to its premature conclusion.