Shay Lane is no fortress for Salem (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Shay Lane is no fortress for Bradford Salem

4:10pm Sunday 16th September 2012 in Sport By Neil Klenk

Bradford Salem 3, West Leeds 18

Bradford Salem suffered a second successive home defeat at the hands of West Leeds in SSE Yorkshire Division Two yesterday.

Shay Lane has traditionally been regarded as a fortress for Salem but at the moment their much-changed team is still on a learning curve.

Nevertheless, it was Salem who dominated the early exchanges, and only spilled ball in the tackle area prevented them from scoring in the opening few minutes.

Salem then launched a number of punishing driving mauls close to the West Leeds line but they eventually had to be content with a 3-0 lead courtesy of an Andy Robinson penalty.

The visitors were clearly lifted by their defensive efforts and began to dominate in the loose.

Several turnovers gave West Leeds the opportunity to move the ball wide, and they got their just reward when speedy winger Danny Booth outpaced the Salem defence for an excellent solo try to put his side 5-3 ahead.

In fact, the visitors would have probably been further ahead at half-time had the normally reliable Dale Breakwell, who later had to leave the pitch with a knee injury, not had a rare off day with the boot.

In the second half, West Leeds continued to control the ruck area and always looked the most likely to score.

Two penalties extended the visitors lead to 11-3 and, with only minutes remaining, inside centre Karl Wilson powered his way over from close range to seal a deserved 18-3 victory.