Brighouse Rangers 38 Bradford Victoria Rangers 20

BRIGHOUSE Rangers' deadly right-wing duo Reece Bray and Liam Stead posted a hat-trick apiece in a comfortable Pennine League victory against never-say-die Bradford Victoria Rangers at Russell Way.

The Vics entered the Division One fray with just a bare-bones 13 men and soon fell behind when home centre Stead crossed out wide from a scrum, leaving stand-off Jamie Barraclough to add the extras.

The Eccleshill outfit responded in style, however, with a darting 50-metre run from scrum half Josh Hattle and when the ball was worked to the blindside, centre Aiden Scully was on hand to reach the chalk.

The visitors were reduced to 12 men on quarter time when prop Ash Yarrow was sent off after throwing a punch – and they suffered another setback when the referee missed a clear knock on as wingman Bray sprinted over in the corner.

Brighouse hooker Troy Ambler then received a yellow card after unwelcome comments to the match official, which restored parity in numbers to give the visitors the incentive to launch full back Jordon Walker en route to the whitewash, and Hattle made sure of full reward to level the scores at 10-10.

But the hosts slipped back into top gear, with prop forward Ben Waud breaking three flimsy tackles to touch down at the posts, soon followed by another converted touchdown from Bray to take a 22-10 buffer into the interval.

The Vics looked to be out for the count when Stead cantered over for his brace on the restart but they were thrown another lifeline when home prop Lee Robson's addiction of bending the tackling rules saw him earn a spell in the sin-bin.

The Bradford side could do little to prevent Stead claiming his treble, however, when he sprinted into a huge hole and used his speed to race clear to the line – but their tenacity was rewarded when hooker Jordon Lambert spotted a gap at the ruck to burrow his way at the side of the posts.

A slick passing move along the line saw second-row forward Cam Foster in at the flag to make the scoreboard more respectable for the Vics.

But the home outfit brought a suitable closure to the match by registering a double hat-trick on the scoreboard after prising out a difficult chance for Stead to make his mark at the flag.