BAILDON climbed out of the bottom two in Yorkshire Three with a 20-11 win at Leeds Modernians.

Victory over the bottom club saw them leapfrog neighbours Aireborough, who lost 51-13 at Wensleydale.

Baildon kicked off down the slope and were soon camped on the Mods try line courtesy of a Tom Parnell break. Luke Strauss was denied, but Mods could not get an exit. Tom Craven got over the ball and won a penalty when Mods failed to release as Jake Duxbury claimed first blood with the boot.

Ross Cordingley caught cleanly from the restart and set up good second phase ball. But Baildon knocked on, compounding their error by an offside player picking up the spilled ball, as Mods cancelled out the lead with a successful kick.

However, Mods came off their feet at the next ruck and Duxbury once more took the points.

Baildon had the nudge at the scrum and were controlling their own line-out ball.

When the Jenny Laners kept it simple, they played in the right parts of the field. A Phil Wilson catch, Duxbury boot, and Josh Strauss chase and rip saw Baildon back on the attack.

Although they lost possession, at a Mods scrum the ball was taken against the head. Paul MacNamara fed Duxbury, who turned defenders with a grubber kick. Mods could only take the ball back over their own try line for a Baildon five-metre attacking scrum. With his pack marching towards the line, James O'Ryan saw a gap and darted over to put the visitors 11-3 up.

Baildon were held up just short of the line in a maul before indiscipline gave Mods a penalty shot at goal to narrow the gap to 11-6 by the break.

A five-point margin having to play up the slope didn't seem enough, especially when Mods cut through Baildon defence in broken play to score their first try.

To make matters worse, a despairing tackle in the build-up from Nick Lister was high and he received a yellow card.

But despite being down to 14 men, Baildon won two penalties which Duxbury scored from to put them 17-11 up.

When Tom Stanley won a penalty by getting over the ball in the break down, it looked like Baildon would be back on the attack.

However the penalty was reversed when a visiting player attempted to speak to the referee.

The visitors were under the cosh but the defence held firm. It was Stanley again who won the vital penalty at the breakdown, relieving the pressure.

Dan Cookson came on and made an impact with two breaks, but the Mods scramble was good. Harrison Strauss had a chance and Duxbury was screaming into the corner, but the last defender managed to force a foot into touch.

Mods managed one more excursion into the Baildon half and won a penalty, but the kick was wide.

Aggressive Baildon defence forced a knock on and Mods' front row popped up for a Baildon scrum penalty. Duxbury kicked the penalty from halfway to seal a crucial victory.