BRADFORD Salem came close to causing an upset at fifth-placed Scarborough – but had to be content with a losing bonus point and a 15-13 defeat.

The Yorkshire One encounter was played in testing conditions at Silver Royd, and Scarborough took the lead after 10 minutes.

Centre Tom Ratcliffe collected a well-judged cross-kick by fly half Tom Harrison, who added the conversion to put the hosts 7-0 ahead.

Salem hit back almost immediately when slick handling in the backs created space on the left, but winger Nick Fontaine still had plenty to do as he showed both pace and strength to go over in the corner to reduce the arrears to 7-5.

With 20 minutes gone, Salem did well to prevent Scarborough scoring from a catch and drive but from the resulting scrum Number 8 Isaac Faamau forced his way over to give the home side a 12-5 advantage.

Both sides were then reduced to 14 men as referee Gavin Pender firstly sent flanker Jamie Booth to the sin-bin for leading with his elbow, and minutes later Faamau joined him for a high shot on Salem second rower Rhys Green.

With half-time approaching, Salem fly half Matt Booth had an opportunity to close the gap but pulled his penalty attempt wide of the uprights.

With 11 minutes of the second half played, Booth made amends as he kicked a penalty to bring the score to 12-8.

Salem were playing with increasing confidence, and after 22 minutes they took the lead for the first time when their Number 8 scored from a catch and drive to edge them 13-12 ahead.

Scarborough regained the lead courtesy of a well-struck penalty by Harrison and, despite the fact that Salem dominated the final stages, the hosts managed to close out a narrow 15-13 victory.