Late Adam Mitchell penalty spares Bradford & Bingley's blushes as they see off relegated Durham City in North One East

A PENALTY from Adam Mitchell at the death gave Bradford & Bingley victory and confirmed their sixth place.

However, they looked to have thrown it away as their relegated visitors were the better team for much of the second half.

An end-of-season game with nothing at stake could have been a complete damp squib, but this game was far from that as both sides set about playing the game with some real pace, and both sides varied tactics, letting forwards and backs have a run with the ball.

The first half belonged to the Bees and the second to Durham City, but it was the visitors who took an early lead with a penalty.

The hosts then began to find their forward gears and were quickly in the ascendancy, and thoroughly deserved their early score as second-rower Harry Jeffery powered his way over the line.

The Bees were playing without a recognised kicker, and the kick from out wide was always going to be a challenge, and the three other conversions were also missed on a day when, along with a couple of eminently kickable three pointers, would have seen the home side home and dry without the last-minute drama of Mitchell's kick.

On nine minutes, the Bees collected a second try as youngster Luca DeVittoris was put into a slight space on the right touchline, pinned his ears back and tore along the right touchline.

A shuffle of his feet put DeVittoris past the final defender and over the whitewash for a superbly-taken score, making it 10-3.

The Bees continued to hold the upper hand and, despite some valiant attempts to break free by the visitors, the game was largely dictated by the hosts.

As the first quarter finished, skipper Tom Booth was able to dance over from close range to make it 15-3, and eight minutes later, DeVittoris collected another score after a neat backline move put him in space.

Bradford & Bingley appeared to be on their way to a comfortable victory, but having engaged cruise mode, they allowed their visitors to start playing some nice rugby, and from the half-hour mark for the next 30 minutes, Durham looked the better side.

Not only were they back in the game, but they suddenly in front through three tries, one of which was converted.

As the clocked ticked on, the Bees upped the energy levels and began to make inroads into Durham territory.

There were several penalties, which gave the Bees excellent field position, but none of the line-outs the Bees took resulted in anything on the scoreboard.

Bradford & Bingley also elected to go for goal and missed a couple of shots at the posts, which a regular kicker would be expected to land.

Dom Copsey stepped up for what appeared to be a final chance to claim victory as it appeared that more than 80 minutes had gone.

Copsey missed that shot at goal, but as the Bees got the ball back and continued to press the away defensive line, the referee spotted another Durham infringement and Mitchell stepped up to the tee to spare his side's blushes.