A FOURTH win on the bounce lifted Bradford & Bingley to seventh in North One East after a 28-19 win at neighbours Morley.

They are now only seven points off a play-off place and just two points behind fifth-placed Percy Park, who are the visitors to Wagon Lane on Saturday.

The conditions at Morley's Scatcherd Lane ground were not ideal for the expansive game the Bees are trying to play.

But for at least the first half the visitors saw enough of the ball and got away from the midfield arm wrestle, which suited Morley's greater ballast, to be good value for their 15-0 lead at half-time.

It would be too easy to say the game was one of contrasting styles as Morley showed their backs can play when they were given time and space.

The Bees pack also showed they were not going to be outmuscled when mounting two impressive defensive goal-line stands and they had enough grunt left in the tank in the dying seconds to plough over wide on the left to seal the win and deny Morley a losing bonus point.

Ante Majic was credited with the score but anyone of the Bees pack could have been the last man driving for the line.

In the second half the Bees were partially to blame for letting Morley back in as a string of penalties reversed decent field position and set the maroons up in an attacking position.

As the home crowd howled for a yellow card as the referee gave a succession of penalties for high tackles, there was some irony in that when he did reach for it, it was awarded against Bees' skipper Tom Booth and his sarcastic appraisal of a refereeing decision.

With Booth in the bin, Morley set about shunting the Bees pack this way and that, but scored two nicely worked tries from their backline as Nick Green and Jacob Percival scampered home to leave the game nicely set up for the final five minutes, with the Bees leading 23-19.

The game began brightly enough for the Wagon Laners with Tom Johnson jinking between two Morley defenders to dive over in the fourth minute and then Cameron Bainbridge charging over in the left hand corner in the 13th minute.

With Lance Taylor improving Johnson's score, it was 12-0 to the Bees. The only other score of the first half came from a Taylor penalty just before half-time.

The same player followed up with a second three-pointer to open the second half, but then the game swung towards the hosts.

There was far more aggression from the home pack and the speed of their handling from the backline was vastly improved.

However, the Bees switched into defensive mode to good effect and were able to largely keep the home side at bay, even when they went a man down.

The Morley faithful will no doubt be wondering how their side did not at least claim a bonus point.