Yorkshire Division Three: Knottingley 26 Baildon 19

KNOTTINGLEY, despite being down to 13 men after two red cards, scored three late tries to overtake Baildon at the top of the table, also handing the Jenny Laners their first defeat.

With both sides giving away penalties, the visitors' JJ O'Connell had the first shot at goal but the kick drifted left of the uprights, and they also blew the chance of a try when Tom Peel knocked on a potential catch and drive at the front of a line-out. 

Quick hands by Will Tomlinson, Jack Aaron and O'Connell might have produced a try for Matty Dixon.

Baildon had Dale Tabiner yellow carded for a deliberate knock on but took the lead in his absence via an O'Connell penalty but when he came back Steven Berry scored a converted try for the hosts.

O'Connell landed a second penalty before half-time to cut the deficit to a point, and they started the second half brightly, with O'Connell landing two more penalties - one for offside and one for a late tackle.

The skipper then hacked on a loose ball and regathered it to score a try which he converted, putting Baildon 19-7 ahead and taking his tally to 19 points, but that was not a fair reflection on the match as Knottingley had more than played their part.

A frustrated Steven Seed became the first home player to be shown a red card by referee Liam Rogers, but, like Baildon earlier, they played well when a man down, only good defence keeping them out.

Both sides then earned a yellow card after a fracas, but a Knottingley player who ran in to join the fray right in front of the referee was shown a red card.

Against the best defence in the division, 13-man Knottingley began to find spaces out wide as Baildon seemingly switched off, giving away soft penalties and ill-advised offloads.

O'Connell missed a penalty but Knottingley deserve most credit for finishing the leaders off with three swift tries, the last try going to Nicky Beach with the last play of the match, although Baildon had lost prop Adam Hewitt by then, who was unable to see out of an eye.

Referee Rogers had a splendid game, being spot on with his decisions and clear with his communications, allowing the game to flow.

As for Baildon, they need to cut off the silly offloads, listen to their coaches and get back to playing for 80 minutes.