Bees in danger as Park hit back

4:56pm Sunday 2nd March 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

Darlington Mowden Park 26, Bradford & Bingley 21

A 77th-minute try for lock forward Vinnicombe sealed victory for the home team after they had trailed 21-0 to the Bees at one stage.

The desperately disappointed visitors contributed fully to a very entertaining game but, for the fifth time this season, they conceded a score in the closing stages.

The defeat leaves them perilously close to the drop zone.

The first-half performance by the Bees was a vast imp-rovement on recent form and they raced to a 21-0 lead after 25 minutes.

Tom Rhodes scored 16 points through a try, conversion, drop goal and two penalties and kicked intelligently out of hand throughout the game.

The Bees' other try came from Phil Greaves, returning to the side for the first time this season.

Bradford's pack had the upper hand in the first period, with stand-out performances by Peter Hall and Jaryd Warren. Repeatedly, the Bees came away from the home side's 22 with points.

However, Mowden Park proved why they are promotion contenders by fighting back from this deficit and always looked dangerous when they got ball to their speedy wingmen Clark and Kerr.

Crucially, they scored a try just before half-time with a length-of-the-field move which kept them in touch at the break.

Despite missing three kickable penalties in the second period, they had the all-round game to score three more tries, while the luckless Bees faded after their early dominance.

Greaves put in a powerful first-half display but limped out of the action after 52 minutes and the Bees could not take advantage of the sin-binning of the Park full back Dixon in the second half.

The defeat leaves Bradford & Bingley still searching for their first victory since early January.