North One East: Bradford & Bingley 7 West Leeds 36

THE Bees followed their best performance of the season in their defeat of Penrith two weeks ago with a very disappointing showing against West Leeds, which keeps the Wagon Lane side in the thick of the relegation battle.

The hosts were at sixes and sevens defensively for large parts of the second half as their visitors ran in four converted tries. The visitors were on the board first with a penalty kick, and increased their lead on 17 minutes with a well-worked try from left to right in front of the clubhouse.

Seven minutes later, Phil Greaves burrowed over from short range and Tom Cummins slotted the extra points as Bees got on the scoreboard.

The sides turned round separated by a single point and everything looked set for a close contest.

But tries in the 47th and 52nd minutes for the visitors seemed to deflate home spirits and any semblance of coherence with the ball in hand disappeared.

The Bees pack were unable to get much going up front to perhaps curtail West Leeds' more expansive game and it all seemed far too easy for the visitors to keep Martin Whitcombe's side pinned in their own half.

With Phil Greaves on the field during the first half, the Bees always had his booming left foot to get the ball back down field. But 40-year-old hamstrings do not have the elasticity they once had and Greaves was forced to leave the fray having overstretched his left leg.

With the kicking option removed, the Bees seemed to only have the direct running of Cummins and Tom Booth as a way through the West Leeds defence, with Dennis Touffour also having the odd weaving run.

The Bees were playing without a recognised hooker and desperately need to find a second row pairing that can pull on their boots every week.

But they cannot use the lack of personnel as an excuse as West Leeds were also missing three or four first choice players. With the score at 22-7, the Bees shuffled their backline again, perhaps in the hope that the powerful running of James Morton could create some space for Tuffour to have a gallop out wide.

But almost as soon as Morton had blasted up the middle, West Leeds recovered possession and were quickly celebrating their fourth try and the bonus point as they returned the ball to the right of the posts.

Cummins was lost to the sin bin after a minor dust-up with a West Leeds player and, with four minutes left, West Leeds were again celebrating in front of a lower than average Wagon Lane crowd.