Yorkshire Division One: Hullensians 25 Bradford Salem 18

ALTHOUGH Bradford Salem lost their opening league game at Hullensians, the spirit they showed in the second half will have given new head coach Neil Spence some cause for optimism.

Both sides attempted to gain territory with the boot in the early exchanges and, although debutant Latvian winger Martins Bokiss did well to collect a high ball on halfway, his kick over the chasing Hullensians' back line did not achieve the distance he had intended.

The first real scoring opportunity went to Salem, however, as skipper Andy Robinson's nicely-weighted pass put centre Harry Hall scampering through a gaping hole but, despite showing good pace and elusiveness, his wayward pass failed to find supporting full back Danny Belcher, who had a clear run to the line.

Belcher did manage to gather the loose ball but was hauled down inches short.

Shortly afterwards, Hullensians were caught offside by West Yorkshire referee Graeme Hall, and scrum half Matt Booth kicked the resultant penalty to give the visitors a 3-0 lead with five minutes played.

Salem then suffered a setback when their other Latvian debutant, flanker Gundars Griekis, was rather harshly given a yellow card for going in at the side of a maul as Hullensians were exerting pressure on their opponents' try-line.

The home side immediately made the one-man advantage count as prop Ian Irvine burst through a maul to score a try which put the hosts 5-3 ahead.

Salem were coming under increasing pressure in the setpieces and, after 28 minutes, Hullensians increased their lead to 10-3 when No 8 Jason Conroy scored a pushover try.

Salem were very much on the back foot at this stage, but with half-time approaching they had a chance to relieve the pressure when they were awarded a penalty in their own 22.

Unfortunately, however, Booth failed to find touch, which allowed Hullensians to launch an audacious counter-attack.

After collecting the ball from inside his own half, centre Dom Bloomfield sliced through Salem's defence, and some fine off-loading allowed Conroy to score his second try to give the home side a 15-3 advantage at the break.

Salem made a number of changes, with former England international and backs coach Dan Scarbrough entering the fray on the wing, Griekis moving into the front row in place of Tom O'Sullivan, and centre Connor Malarkey replacing him in the back row.

The visitors were further disrupted when experienced prop John Bradbury had to leave the field with a knee injury, No 8 Conor Wood replacing him at tight-head prop.

Despite of all these changes, Salem finally started to put some phases together, and when Malarkey pounced on a loose ball to score a try after Hullensians had inexplicably tried to run the ball from their own line, not only were Salem back in the game at 15-8 down but the hosts were visibly rattled.

Although Salem were clearly gaining in confidence, they were brought back down to earth when, in their first visit into opposition territory in over ten minutes, Hullensians' replacement prop Bobby Marrow stole the ball on Salem's throw at a line-out and dived over for a try to take his side into a 20-8 lead.

To their credit, Salem seized the initiative straight from the restart and were soon pressing in their opponents' 22.

The visitors were throwing everything at the Hull defence, and only some tenacious last-gasp tackling prevented lock Ben Whitaker and Malarkey from scoring.

Salem then received a boost when Hullensians' second-rower Pete Osborne was sent to the sin-bin for killing the ball in the 'red zone'.

With a one-man advantage, Salem continued to press, and their efforts were finally rewarded when Ryan Smith, who had moved from wing to centre, burst through a gap and his offload found Hall, who dived under the posts for a fine try improved by Booth, and with the scores now at 20-15, the visitors were back in the hunt.

Salem once again went on the attack, and some swift handling in the backs put Bokiss clear on the left, only for him to be bundled into touch by some desperate cover defence.

With time ticking away, Salem were dealt a killer blow when Hullensians, in a rare visit into their opponents' half, recycled the ball from a five-metre scrum, and good handling enabled winger James Matthews to score a decisive try to give the hosts a 25-15 lead.

However, Salem still refused to throw in the towel and a late Booth penalty earned the visitors a deserved losing bonus point with a final scoreline of 25-18.