Bees taught a lesson in finishing (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Bees taught a lesson in finishing

11:33pm Sunday 31st January 2010 in Sport By Nick Patterson

Bradford & Bingley 13, Fylde 28

One of the oldest sporting cliches in the book described this match, as a game of two halves saw Bradford & Bingley fail to ease their relegation worries.

For 39 minutes of the first 40, the home side looked comfortably on top.

By contrast, the visitors clearly held the ascendancy after the break – the difference being that Fylde converted their possession into more points.

For all the Bees’ territorial dominance in the opening period, they could only claim a James McBirnie try and a Tom Davidson penalty.

To add salt to their wounds, a missed tackle in midfield allowed Fylde to break free of the stranglehold and Alex Hurst took the chance to touch down for the seasiders.

Tom Barlow improved the score to leave Bees just 8-7 in front at the break.

The complete reversal in the second half saw Fylde’s forwards take the game by the scruff of the neck and never allow the Bees out of their own half.

With former England captain Bill Beaumont – who played all his career at Fylde – among their travelling support, the visitors ran in three tries.

It reflected their dominance of proceedings and the Wagon Laners never really posed an attacking threat until it was too late.

Waywell, Atkinson and Barlow all crossed as the Bees ran out of bodies following sustained pressure.

A late consolation score from Sam Hobbs was too little, too late to pull the game around for Stuart Dixon’s side.

The Bees are still hopeful of calling the cavalry to pull them clear of the relegation mire but five points from this week’s game against Kendal is an absolute must.

The result left Bingley still two points behind third-from-bottom Huddersfield, who have two games in hand.