Leodiensians 15, Bradford Salem 22

Bradford Salem consolidated their position in SSE Yorkshire Division Two with workmanlike victory over Leodiensians.

On a heavy pitch at Crag Lane, it was always likely to be the team who coped best with the testing conditions that would come out on top, and Salem drew first blood after five minutes with a penalty from fly half Andy Robinson, only for Leos to equalise shortly after when the visitors were caught offside.

Winger Danny Thomas was then denied a score after Leos made a hash of a kick-through on their own line, but, unfortunately, the referee failed to see the grounding of the ball.

However, the reprieve for Leos proved short-lived as moments later No 8 and skipper Damien Pearson, who led from the front throughout, powered his way over the try line from close range to put his side into an 8-3 lead.

The home side kicked a second penalty to get back to within two points at the break but Salem coach Phil Nilsen was satisfied with his team's performance in the first half and felt that if his charges could keep up the same level of commitment and control in the second half they would go on to win the game.

Despite Nilsen's optimism, Salem went behind for the first time straight after the break when Leos kicked a third penalty to take them into a 9-8 lead.

However, the Bradford outfit always looked the more likely side to score and they went back in front when full back Danny Belcher collected a deft Robinson cross-kick to race under the sticks with Robinson adding the simple conversion to give his side a 15-9 advantage.

Unfortunately, yet again, Salem were guilty of taking their foot off the pedal and a catelogue of unforced errors gave Leos the opportunity to kick two further penalties to bring the scores level at 15-15.

Thankfully, however, with just five minutes remaining, Salem's players seemed to regain some composure and an excellent break from Thomas allowed supporting centre Tony Williams to touch down near the posts for a fine try improved by Robinson to give the visitors a 22-15 advantage.

And although Salem failed to deal with the restart, which gave their opponents the chance of a last-ditch fightback, the pack somehow managed to regain possession and run the clock down to seal a hard-fought win.