Yorkshire One: Bradford Salem 14 Middlesbrough 39

Not for the first time in recent weeks, Salem appeared to run out of steam in the last quarter of a game in which they had competed well for an hour.

Middlesbrough underlined their credentials as contenders for a play-off place with a confident start. They dominated the opening exchanges and forced a line-out within 20 metres of the home line from which a well-executed catch and drive brought them a converted try.

Salem came straight back and within 10 minutes were level with what referee Chris Baxter, who was on an exchange visit from the London Society, later described as the try of the game.

The run from the blind-side of winger Jake Abram and the pass from fly half Andy Robinson were both perfectly timed and sent Abram scything through the Middlesbrough defence.

Although he was stopped inside the 22, he offloaded to flanker Nick Fontaine arriving at pace and he burst through to score under the posts.

The visitors had more of the play leading up to half-time, but the home side defended stoutly and looked dangerous on the break with skipper Christian Baines leading from the front.

Stand-in second row Sam Savage showed why he is equally at home in the backs by selling an outrageous dummy and cutting through the wrong-footed Middlesbrough defence to score. Full back Danny Belcher, who had spent 10 minutes in the bin earlier for being offside in the red zone, landed his second conversion to put Salem 14-7 up at the break.

Middlesbrough were immediately on the offensive from the restart. They quickly established a lead with a simple penalty and a close-range converted try after they had shunted the Salem pack off their own ball at the scrum.

The Salem defence dug in but, although they had their moments in attack, they were unable to exert any sustained pressure in the opposition half, even after the introduction of former international Dan Scarborough and their plight became more desperate when Fontaine was yellow-carded for a late tackle.

It was after the hour mark before Middlesbrough extended their lead with another close-range converted try. This seemed to break the resolve of the Salem defence and Middlesbrough, with their tails up, ran in three more tries, two of which were converted.

The final score was harsh on the home side but with two league games remaining they still need a couple of points to be absolutely certain of avoiding relegation.