North One East: Bradford & Bingley 19 Alnwick 36

A FIFTH North One East league defeat in a row leaves Bradford & Bingley hanging precariously above the relegation zone, with only one point now separating them from West Hartlepool, who currently occupy the highest of the three demotion berths.

Despite Martin Whitcombe's men's best efforts to throw this game away, with 15 minutes to play the home side were in the ascendancy and should have gone on to win if they had the ability to stop making mistakes and stick to the formula that had put them on top of their visitors, who were undefeated since the first week in November.

As seems to be a familiar pattern this season, the Bees allowed their visitors to gallop into the lead in the opening exchanges, and with 17 minutes played it was 17-0 to Alnwick, who didn't have to do much to earn that lead as the home side gifted them all three tries.

The first came after four minutes when a slightly over-thrown line-out pinged off the fingers of Joe Daley and dropped into the no man's land behind the Bees forwards, but in front of the home try-line.

Bradford & Bingley's defence was slow to react and Alnwick forward Danny Clayton was able to flop over the line for an easy score.

Seven minutes later, debutant fly half Tanner Lightfoot attempted a clearance kick to the right wing, but slipped as he kicked the ball and delivered a looping kick to the Alnwick backline, who were gifted an unopposed run up the far touchline for wingman Jonny Burn to claim the score.

With their next foray into Bees territory, Alnwick were on the scoreboard again as the home defence seemed reluctant to tackle prop Clayton as he charged towards the line, and he was already claiming the five points before the home defence finally reacted to his charge over the whitewash.

Arguably it was a fine effort from the Alnwick player but Bradford & Bingley's inability to clear their lines meant the game was being played in the home 22, not 30 or 40 metres upfield, which was allowing the visitors to set out a defensive line which simply waited for a Bees mistake to turn defence into an immediate attack with promising field position.

With the first quarter out of the way, the hosts finally began to assert some sort of pressure on the Alnwick defence, with Tom Cummins, Tom Booth and Mat Cochrane all beginning to run at the opposition to some effect.

A couple of half-breaks by Cummins could have led to the Bees getting further inroads into Alnwick territory, but it seemed as if no-one playing in a Bees shirt wanted to get on the end of a potential off-load, and progress was being made in inches down the middle of the field.

The pressure was eventually rewarded on 26 minutes as Cummins drove over from short range after sustained pressure deep in the visitors' 22 for his 12th five-pointer of the season.

Lightfoot added the extras, and at 17-7 the Bees seemed to be at least steadying the ship and were taking the game to Alnwick as the sides turned round.

It was another unforced error that put the Bees on the back foot again early in the second half, however, as Andy Walker spilled possession, allowing Alnwick centre Rob Cuthbert to gather and claim another seven points.

At least this setback seemed to galvanise the home side, and the pack were now completely dominant in the scrums, giving the hosts a platform to start playing rugby.

There were breaks made to the left and right as Bradford & Bingley were now camped inside the Alnwick 22.

A fine move to the right should have seen Adam Sutcliffe in at the corner, but it seemed he was looking at the try-line not the ball as a pass fizzed out to him on the wing and the ball ended up in touch.

The wingman made amends on the next attack up his wing as the Bees pack bashed away at the Alnwick defence and then released the ball swiftly to the right, giving Sutcliffe just enough space to slide in for the score.

The Alnwick forwards were now being shunted backwards, upwards and sideways at every scrum.

After several collapses, the home support were howling for a penalty try as the Bees shunted another scrum this way and that, and it took another few minutes before the referee agreed with the Wagon Lane faithful and signalled the penalty try in the 65th minute.

Alnwick were clearly second best at this stage and it seemed all the Bees needed to do was to keep the ball in the opposition half and wait for any mistake which would give the ball back to their pack, who could then have ploughed a familiar path towards the Alnwick line.

Ar 24-19 down, Bradford & Bingley only had to get one more converted score to claim the win, and momentum certainly seemed to have swung to the home side.

However, it was not to be as another poor clearance kick gifted the visitors possession up the left wing, and within seconds another seven points were on the scoreboard, this time it centre Frank Hutchinson picking up the score.

On 73 minutes, Alnwick were over the line again as loose-head prop Duncan Smith crashed over, and what looked to be a game that the Bees could win only eight minutes earlier was now beyond the home side.

With fixtures to come against all the sides in the bottom half of the table over the next six weeks or so, the Bees need to quickly learn to cut out mistakes and play to their strengths or return to Yorkshire Division One could be on the cards.