Will coach Stephens come out of retirement to help the Bees? (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Will coach Colin Stephens come out of retirement to help the Bees?

7:30pm Sunday 9th September 2012 in Sport By Nick Patterson

Billingham 48 Bradford & Bingley 15

It will be difficult for Bradford & Bingley's coaching team of Ronnie Kelly and Colin Stephens to find many positives to work on from this crushing SSE National League Three North defeat.

Yes, the pack stuck doggedly to their task and were always more than competitive in the tight, but away from the set-piece the Bees were second best by some distance - whether attacking or defending.

The visitors were not helped by the late withdrawal of centre Mike Robertson, which forced a reshuffle of the backline, but the Billingham backs were given far too much space and streamed through a porous Bees defensive line.

After 15 minutes, the home side had already run in three tries and were already sniffing for the fourth try and a bonus point.

Andy Evans was first to dot down on nine minutes, followed on 13 minutes by Anthony Hyndman. The third score arrived almost straight from the restart as William Turnbull evaded Bees tackles to claim five points.

With full back Peter Evans obliging with two conversions, it was going to be a long day for the Yorkshire side.

Their cause was further set back when Richard Tafa was sent for ten minutes in the sin bin after an over enthusiastic and illegal attempt at stopping an opponent, perhaps borne out of frustration that some of his team-mates seemed incapable of impeding an opponent's progress.

Although down to 14 men, the Bees did manage to engineer some positive movement of their own, sending Benny Greaves over the whitewash.

The visitors then seemed to gather some shape to their defensive alignment and for the next 20 minutes the only scores were a penalty for each side as Evans tacked on three points right on half- time after Tom Bills had pulled the Bees to 11 points behind at 19-8.

Those with a 'glass half full' mentality might have been optimistic that the Bees could pull back the 14-point deficit if they could keep the defence tight.

However, that notion was swiftly disabused as the home three-quarters remembered how to slice open the Wagon Lane men, and four further scores were rattled in.

It took six minutes for full back Evans to claim a five-pointer to go with his haul from the boot.

He was joined in the ledger by substitute Danny Finney, who crossed twice, and then by his brother Andy Evans, who book-ended his side's scoring by claiming their last as well as first scores.

Avoiding the half-century seemed the only way the Bees could save face as the game entered the final stages but, in a final flourish, Tafa ended his days work with a fine individual effort, converted by Bills.

It is evident the Bees are missing a wiser old head in midfield as Phil Greaves reamains sidelined and Steve Brimacombe has retired.

Maybe the coach, former Welsh international Colin Stephens, might be dusting off his playing kit?