North One East: Bradford & Bingley 32 Penrith 24

AFTER the postponement of the previous week’s game at home to Percy Park, which many at Wagon Lane saw as the best chance that Bradford & Bingley had of claiming five points in the final five games of the season, Martin Whitcombe’s men chose the visit of high-flying Penrith to put together their best performance of the last two seasons.

Their five league points moved them to ninth in the table, but the margin of victory should have been wider as the Bees missed out on two scores in the final four minutes which would have put at least an additional ten points between the sides and would have reflected how well they were playing in the final 20 minutes.

Firstly Inoke Finau was adjudged to have a foot in touch as he launched himself at the whitewash in the corner in front of the clubhouse, and then Dan Jeffrey just failed to ground the ball as he burrowed towards the foot of the post, a last-gasp swipe from a Penrith player dislodging the ball.

The visitors do like to throw the ball about, and whenever they clicked in the back line there always looked to be a possibility of a score for the Cumbrian side.

However, the Bees pack were increasingly in control of the tight game as the clock ticked on, and with half backs Dan Jeffrey and Phil Greaves steering the home side around the park, the Bees thoroughly deserved the win.

Jeffrey was given the nod as man of the match but the elder Greaves rolled back the years to give a vintage display at No 10.

His brother Ben also put in a great shift at full back, and Tanner Lightfoot also looked a class act at outside centre.

It was Lightfoot who got the scoreboard moving for the Bees as he was first to react to a dropped pass as Penrith attacked up their right flank, slipping away from the visiting defenders to score out to the left with barely two minutes on the clock.

Penrith did not waste too much time in getting on the scoreboard themselves, however, as Ryan Johnson claimed a score on nine minutes, with Matthew Allinson following him over the whitewash on 16 minutes.

With the conversion added to Johnson’s score, it was 12 5 to the visitors and it was imperative that the Bees wrestled some control back from their visitors, who looked to be warming to their task.

It only took three minutes for the reply to come as Phil Greaves was over the line, with Lightfoot adding the extras. At 12-12 with 20 minutes played, both sides were creating half-chances but the Bees defence was largely equal to everything the visitors could throw at them, and with Penrith conceding two kickable penalties it was the home side who headed into half-time six points to the good.

Penrith started the second half brightly and were on the scoreboard on 45 minutes as Mike Raine galloped home. Bradford & Bingley then lost Fuifui Moi Moi to a yellow card and it looked like the visitors might have an opportunity to take control with only one point separating the sides.

However, the Bees had other ideas, and on 63 minutes some enterprising play in midfield opened up an overlap on the right wing.

The ball was shipped wide and Jack Malthouse was able to scamper home in the corner, with Tom Cummins stepping up to take over the kicking duties and landing the extra points to push the advantage to 25-17.

The home side continued to repel all Penrith could throw at them and with the Bees forwards increasingly dominant, the Wagon Lane outfit were able to mix up their game, using the forwards to slow down possession but then using Phil Greaves' kicks to turn the visitors' defence.

There followed a series of scrums in the Penrith 22, and it appeared that all the Bees needed to do was to repeatedly shunt their visitors backwards, run the clock down and possibly even earn a penalty try as they disrupted the Cumbrian eight.

The Bees backline had other ideas though, and after Cummins had bumped the ball into the heart of the opposition defence, the ball was shipped quickly to the right of the posts, with Ben Greaves sliding in for the score, Cummins banging over another excellent conversion to keep Penrith at arms length.

There were still 10 minutes on the clock, and when Bradley Taylor ran in another score to claim a four-try bonus point with a good five minutes to play, it could have been a difficult last few minutes for the home side, but instead the Bees took the game to Penrith and were unlucky not to add the extra five-pointers through the efforts of Finau and then Jeffrey.

With four games left, the Bees are still not clear of the relegation scramble, but if the quality of their remaining performances is anything like this, they should be in the same division next season.