FOR the second time this season, Bradford Salem missed a late kick to deny them a victory against Goole as they suffered a 31-30 defeat.

Matt Booth, who had been kicking well throughout the game, was the player responsible for the miss which would have fired Salem up to eighth in the Yorkshire One league table.

Despite taking a 22-14 lead into the second half, Goole upped their game after the break to take the spoils by the narrowest of margins.

Excellent runs from centres Sam Dunn and Morgan Mirzaali gave Salem good field position and allowed Baines to take a short pass from fly-half Glenn Morrison before bursting through several tackles to score a fine try under the posts.

Salem were soon back on the attack when prop To’i Auali’itia’s off-load put second rower Rhys Green into space, however, the Bradford side had to be content with a Booth penalty for a 10 point lead.

Goole hit back within minutes when they scored from a five metre scrum to reduce the arrears.

Moments later, the home side took the lead for the first time when a fortuitous bounce following a kick and chase resulted in a try in the left corner, fly half Richard Barrass landing the touchline conversion for a 14-10 lead.

The hosts were reduced to 14 men when lock Will Townend was sin-binned and Salem took immediate advantage as Sam Savage scored from the quickly taken penalty, Booth adding the extras to give Salem a seven point advantage.

With half-time approaching, telling runs from Rhys Green and Morrison put Salem on the front foot and the ball was quickly transferred to Tim Makaafi who brushed off the final defender on a 40 metre run to the try-line to give his side a greater half-time lead.

Goole cut the deficit to within three points after the break when some slick handling in the backs created a try out wide for winger Tom Betteridge.

The fourth-placed side were now in the ascendancy and they took the lead when a strong run and off-load created a fourth bonus point try which was converted.

A couple of minutes later, a second successful Booth penalty got Salem back to within a point but Goole hit back when the ball fell kindly following a chip through allowing replacement Rhys Moore to score under the posts.

Salem piled on the pressure straight from the restart and, when Nick Fontaine went over, they were once again back to within a point with the kick to come.

Booth was unable to land the touchline conversion so the score remained at 31-30 until the final whistle.