North One East: Driffield 16 Bradford & Bingley 9

THIS defeat possibly ended Bradford & Bingley's chances of reaching the play-offs this season as they are now 13 points adrift of second place with six fixtures remaining.

However, the current bottom four all have to visit Wagon Lane before the end of the season, and there are points up for grabs that might yet propel Martin Whitcombe's men back into contention.

The Bees can really have no qualms about finishing second best in this contest.

The home side were on the attack for the majority of the game and more than 80 per cent of the action took place in the visitors' half of the field, where, for the most part, the Bees defence remained solid.

The pack were slow off the mark, but once they got into the game they were able to give the home eight a torrid time in the set scrum, and heaving the home pack over their own line looked the likeliest way for the Bees to get a try.

Unfortunately, most of the shunting about was taking place 20 metres from the home line so Driffield were always able to scramble into defence rather than being committed to stopping the splintering scrum sliding back into the in-goal area.

Ironically Driffield's first try after four minutes resulted from a scrum being won against the head in the Driffield half, and before the Bees reacted to the turnover, the ball was 50 metres away and in the hands of winger Ben Dinsdale, who dived over.

This score clearly had the home back line buzzing as they countered some wayward kicking with runs deep back into Bradford & Bingley territory.

The Bees finally mounted a credible attack in the 12th minute and were on the scoreboard with a penalty from the boot of Richard Tafa.

Tafa was then instrumental in setting up the best scoring chance for his side as he burst through a gap and then placed a delightfully weighted kick into the Driffield dead-ball area.

As the ball bobbled along, Adam Sutcliffe was haring down to claim a score but the final bounce turned the ball away from Sutcliffe and bounced in favour of the Driffield defender, who was keeping pace with him.

That was the nearest the Bees would get to a five-pointer all afternoon, although the uncanny ability of Driffield's defenders to appear on the Bees side of a ruck or maul should possibly have resulted in more than the penalties Tafa slotted, his second coming in the 29th minute.

The sides turned round with the score at 6-5 in favour of the visitors, and with the Bees pack definitely in the ascendancy there were reasons for some optimism for the West Yorkshire side as the sides jogged back onto the field.

Unfortunately too much of the Bees bumping and barging at the home defence was within sight of their own posts and the game was increasingly being played in the visitors' final third.

They were not helped by a yellow card against Michael Crotch in the 47th minute for a high tackle, which gifted the home side the lead.

Eight minutes later, Jack Malthouse joined Crotch on the naughty step for another high tackle and another Will Brigham penalty.

It was now 11-6 in favour of the men in blue and white, but, despite being a man down, the Bees were defending well and also making some inroads into home territory.

Tafa pulled the score back to 11-9 with his third penalty but before the Bees could get Malthouse back on the field, they simply ran out of defenders as Driffield spread the ball wide right for Gary Stephenson to score in the corner.

There were still 18 minutes on the clock and only seven points in the game, so there was still hope among the contingent of Bees followers that their side could fashion at least one telling break in that final period, but it was not to be and a losing bonus point was the only consolation the Bees could take from the game.