BRADFORD Salem consolidated their mid-table position in Yorkshire One with a 28-15 win over bottom club Hullensians at Shay Lane but it was not all plain sailing after they had to withstand a spirited second half comeback by their plucky opponents.

It took Salem until the 15th-minute to open their account with what proved to be the try of the match.

An excellent midfield break by centre Sam Dunn was carried on by Morgan Mirzaali who put winger Jake Green away down the right wing. Green then drew the last defender before his inside overhead pass sent supporting full-back Jack Payne scampering under the posts for a brilliant try.

Two minutes later, Salem had a great chance to extend their lead but following good runs from Dunn and skipper Christian Baines, the final pass went to ground.

This reprieve for Hullensians proved to be only temporary with the ball spun wide to Green who evaded the cover defence to score in the right corner. Booth's magnificent touchline conversion gave his side a 14-0 lead.

To their credit, the visitors hit back almost immediately when a blind side move from a five metre scrum resulted in a try for scrum half Callum Dagless.

However, Salem responded when man-of-the match Dunn scored a fine try which Booth improved to give the hosts a 21-5 advantage at the break.

With Salem playing towards their favoured Heaton Woods end in the second half a comfortable win seemed on the cards.

This did not prove to be the case as the home side inexplicably got on the wrong side of referee Mark Smith and a penalty count of 10-0 against them meant that Hullensians dominated possession.

With Bradford on the back foot and down to 14 men following the harsh sin-binning of Rhys Green, the pressure was always likely to tell and a try by lively winger Josh Langford reduced the arrears to 11 points with 10 minutes to go.

The Hull side continued to pile on the pressure and when Langford's fellow winger Harrison Holmes went over in the corner, an upset was looking increasingly likely.

Hullensians threw caution to the wind in the closing minutes in an attempt to clinch victory but an error in midfield allowed Payne to launch a counter-attack. Mirzaali won the chase to his pin-point kick ahead to score near the posts, Booth drop-kicking the goal to seal a bonus point win.

The away side, who are almost certain to go down, could count themselves extremely unlucky to end the game empty handed.

Despite their victory, Salem will have major concerns over the penalty count of 16-3 against them.

The seventh-placed side travel to league challengers Heath on Saturday.