WIBSEY’S derby with Bramley Phoenix is always a highly-anticipated fixture, whatever division they meet in.

And the Bradford hosts had put themselves into a position to win their latest meeting in Yorkshire Three after playing up the Northfield Road slope in the first half and being 13-13 four minutes into the second half.

However, a lack of lineout ball and a lack of discipline, as they ended the match with 13 men, meant that their supposed march towards victory did not come to fruition, as they conceded the last 22 points to lose 35-13.

Wibsey skipper Alex Cerson said: “The game definitely got away from us in the second half.

“We had battled well up the hill in the first half, but we then lost our shape a little bit and our discipline, getting a couple of yellow cards, and once we were down to 13 men for the last 10 minutes, it was game over from there.

“In the scrums we did fine, even with stand-in hookers such as Danny Carr or Scott Smith, but first-phase ball is important, and with our lineouts being 50-50, it was always hard to get on to the front foot.”

Cerson added: “It is always a bit of a benefit to us when the summer rugby league season starts to die down a little bit and we see some old faces, as in the past few weeks we have only had 15 players and maybe a sub here and there.

“Last week we played against the top of the league with 15 men and battled very hard (losing 45-7 at Barnsley), whereas this week we probably didn’t battle as hard as we could have done.

“This week we had one of the strongest sides out that we have had all season, and we earmarked this at the start of the campaign as a five-point win, so to come away with a loss is a massive disappointment.

“We came together after the end of the match and discussed what went wrong but we are going to train on Wednesday, fix what went wrong and try to bounce back with a big win on Saturday (at Knottingley).

“Sometimes you need to have a setback to put things in perspective a little bit, but as the season goes on we will get stronger and stronger in terms of numbers.

“We are in a bit of a losing rut at the moment. We need to have discipline but also discipline in terms of game management and getting back on that front foot.”

Wibsey are currently next-to-bottom in the 14-team table, and Cerson admitted: “We want to be in that top four and at the moment we are a little bit behind that.

“But there is still an awful lot of rugby to be played and it is a Wibsey trait that we are weak over the first few weeks of the season.”

He then confessed: “I am a very critical person, but we are a strong-willed team, we put our points of view over and we stick together, but credit to Bramley, who had a better pre-season than us.”

Wibsey fell behind in the sixth minute after a series of errors put them on the defensive deep in their half, and flanker Tom Welford benefited with a try, although referee Tony Kenworthy missed a knock-on in the build-up.

Former Wibsey fly half James Sawyer added the conversion and made it 10-0 three minutes later with a penalty after he was clattered late by lock Elliot Cousins, who was yellow carded.

The hosts lost flanker Zac Blackburn with a leg injury at the same time, but fly half Andy Robinson put them on the board with a well-struck penalty in the 16th minute, two minutes after missing a shot at goal.

Sawyer replied in kind five minutes later, but Wibsey hauled themselves back into the contest with a try on the half-hour, with scrum half Kyle Carter getting the touchdown after Robinson had been stopped just short.

Robinson’s conversion put Wibsey just three points adrift at 13-10, but there was still time for Sawyer to be short with a penalty attempt before half-time.

Robinson’s strike four minutes into the second half levelled matters, but things went pear shaped for Wibsey in the final half-hour.

Bramley replacement Ollie Hague went over for tries in the 50th and 57th minutes to make it 23-13, with Sawyer converting the latter score, and winger Connor Goode’s interception try in the 66th minute killed Wibsey off.

Sawyer easily converted that one, and Wibsey then suffered their second and third sin-binnings, for Aiden Batey and replacement Chris Fawthrop.

Sawyer’s penalty for the latter’s tip-tackle was the final score of the match, with Wibsey’s last 30 minutes being summed up by Stefan Grant’s knock-on just before the whistle.