Yorkshire Division One: Bradford Salem 6 York 16

BRADFORD Salem made a disappointing start to 2016 as they lost to tenth-placed York in heavy conditions at Shay Lane.

On a pitch which stood up surprisingly well despite an early-morning deluge, Salem started brightly, and, on their first attack, swift handling in the backs put full back Danny Belcher clear on the right.

However, the former Wibsey Warrior was hauled down just short of the line, and a knock on at the ensuing breakdown allowed York to clear.

The visitors' larger pack then started to get the upper hand in the scrums, and they had a chance to take the lead after 10 minutes, only for their fly half Liam Hessay to fluff his penalty attempt.

However, he made amends five minutes later with a well-struck penalty from 35 metres to put his side 3-0 ahead.

Salem then enjoyed a period of pressure and drew level courtesy of a Belcher penalty.

Then, after 30 minutes, there was what seemed a pivotal moment as, just when York looked certain to score from a driving maul, prop Darren Rutherford inexplicably stamped on Salem No 8 Chad Bain, leaving referee Jonathan Hill no option but to issue an instant red card and award a penalty to the home side.

Despite being down to 14 men, York seemed to raise their game and their efforts were rewarded as Hessay's second successful penalty gave the visitors a 6-3 half-time lead.

Playing towards their favoured Heaton Woods end in the second half, Salem expected to make their one-man advantage count but a combination of tenacious defending by York and poor decision-making by the home side proved to be the deciding factors.

With 20 minutes remaining, Salem fly half Chris Meehan took a quick tap from a penalty rather than electing to take the three points on offer which would have got them on level terms, but the decision back-fired when not only did they lose possession but they immediately conceded a penalty, Hessay's third successful kick giving York a 9-3 advantage against the run of play.

With 10 minutes left on the clock, Salem were awarded another penalty, and, to the relief of their supporters, this time they decided to go for goal, Belcher duly obliging to get the hosts back to within thre points.

With the game still in the balance, Salem continued to press and they looked like they might take the spoils as replacement winger Ryan Smith broke clear, and only a high tackle which was missed by the referee prevented him from scoring.

Then, to add insult to injury, York launched an attack, and when Salem failed to deal with a speculative cross-kick by Hessay, centre Tom Newitt took advantage to score in the corner, Hessay landing the touchline conversion to give the visitors an unassailable 16-6 lead.

There was to be one last twist in the tale when, deep into injury time, Salem were awarded a penalty in front of the posts, and the near-certain conversion would have given them a losing bonus point.

However, to cap a bad day for the hosts, their most experienced player, hooker Simon Markey, decided to run the ball but once again York somehow managed to turn over possession and cleared the ball to seal a deserved victory.