QUEENSBURY staged a second-half Division Two Central revival to steal a 20-12 victory over Birkenshaw Bluedogs in an action-packed Pennine League derby at East Bierley playing fields.

The Bluedogs got the scoreboard ticking before Queensbury had touched the ball as a sweeping cross-field move gave centre Will Johnson the opportunity to side-step the cover and reach the whitewash, leaving scrum-half Tony Aubrey to add the extras.

The visitors should have reduced the arrears when second-row forward Tom Hart wasted a golden chance by passing the ball into touch with wingman Ollie Beever completely unmarked.

They suffered a further setback when Czech Republic academy three-quarter Tonda Berk was sent to the sin-bin for holding down in the tackle.

Birkenshaw needed no further encouragement and another skilful raid down the left flank opened a gap for second-row forward Andy Berry to loop a clever offload into the arms of the wingman Johnny Tipton, who cut inside to power his way to the chalk. This allowed Aubrey to convert again for a 12-0 lead.

Queensbury's pack stepped up to the plate with two sets of six to give stand-off Jordan Brown the chance to dart and dodge his way clear before squirting a short pass to the returning Berk, who crossed at the flag to open his side's account and make it 12-4 at the interval.

The visitors' chances rapidly improved on the restart when full back Myles Harrop joined the line to put Beever over in the corner.

But a minor fracas in the tackle saw Queensbury packman Cameron Parry receive a red card for kicking out when in possession, with Bluedogs counterpart Connor Parkinson collecting a yellow for his contribution.

Queensbury offset their disadvantage to hit the front when Brown set off on a 30-yard dash down the middle, followed by a quick play the ball to put Harrop on a route to the sticks, giving scrum-half Ethan Sharp the chance to slot over the conversion.

This caused the Bluedogs' discipline to go to pot, resulting in full back Danny Howard being marched to the sin-bin for dissent.

The hosts battled hard to salvage the game, with prop Adam Lazenby and centre Ben Cousin to the fore, but it was star of the show Brown who settled the outcome.

His hard, flat pass cut out two defenders to see Hart canter to the line and Sharp made sure of full reward to ensure the spoils.