Tafa provides the sting as Bradford & Bingley march on (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Tafa provides the sting as Bradford & Bingley march on

3:31pm Sunday 12th February 2012 in Sport By Nick Patterson

Waterloo 14, Bradford & Bingley 26 This sixth victory from their last seven games lifts the Bees to within three points of the second-place play-off spot.

The game at Waterloo’s Blundellsands was the only game to survive the big freeze in the division.

And the fourth-placed Wagon Laners made the most of it to keep up the pressure on Chester and Rossendale above them.

With Waterloo only having lost twice on their own patch this season, it took a tremendous effort from Colin Stephens’ men to take anything from the game.

The Bees began sluggishly and, in difficult conditions, it was understandable that both sides were struggling to establish continuity in their play.

Waterloo finally got into their stride when, on 30 minutes, hooker Alec Croft crossed the whitewash.

Liam Reeve was unable to add the extras but, with two minutes left in the half, a Bees infringement allowed the Waterloo man to slot over a three-pointer.

It looked as if the home side would turn around with an eight-point lead but, with the visitors’ back line finally starting to function as Richard Tafa came to the fore, that was not the case.

Bees winger Giles Hetherington crossed for his 11th try of the season.

Waterloo led just 8-7 at the interval after Gavin Stead landed the conversion.

Tafa became even more influential in the midfield after the break and the veteran Tongan was rewarded with two scores in quick succession.

His first came on 51 minutes and a second three minutes later. The rather disjointed first half was now completely forgotten.

Stead stepped up to slot over both conversions and looked comfortably on top at 21-8 in front.

However, as the Bees knew from the reverse fixture at Wagon Lane, this Waterloo side are nothing if not resilient.

The hosts refused to give in and, with two visits into Bees territory, they were rewarded with two penalties from Reeve.

With 20 minutes to play, the home side were now only a converted score from pulling the game level.

But the recovery stalled and, with five minutes left, the away side extended their lead as Hetherington charged in for his 12th of the season.

Second-placed Rossendale have two games in hand over the Bees but they have to visit Wagon Lane on March 10. Victory for the West Yorkshire hosts would leave everything still be to play for in the final six weeks of the season.

* There was more frustration for local sides last Saturday as the cold weather continued to play havoc with the fixture list.

Games involving Wharfe-dale, Otley, Cleckheaton, Keighley, Bradford Salem, Skipton, Yarnbury and Wibsey were all postponed due to frozen pitches.