Bank Top Harriers 14, Wyke 4

Two early tries from centre Mark Bailey set Bank Top Harriers en route to their first-ever Jack Senior Memorial Bradford Cup final at Grattan Stadium.

The Harriers struck the first blow straight from the kick-off when they were awarded a penalty for interference at the ruck.

A quick tap and run, followed by three forward drives, set up field position for the ball to be spun wide, leaving Bailey to cross unopposed in acres of space.

Wyke hit back straight from the restart and, when the hosts were caught holding down in the tackle, a short tap sent second-row forward Ian Wormald crashing over, only to be recalled for a forward pass.

Bank Top stunned the visitors further when they forced a mistake at the scrum, leaving Bailey to use his bulk to skittle the sparse defence for his brace.

Stand-off Adam Mitchell kicked the only goal of the game to establish a 10-0 lead with only ten minutes on the clock.

Wyke set about the task of salvaging the tie in determined fashion.

Lively hooker Adie Doherty put a grubber behind the posts that was eventually booted out dead – and they missed a golden opportunity when full back James Dewhirst looked in vain for support when held inches from the line.

Both packs were going at each other hammer and tongs and it all boiled over on the half-hour mark with a brisk exchange of fisticuffs.

Referee Carl Nagy quickly calmed matters and kept his cards in his pocket, allowing normal service to be resumed. The visitors suffered a major blow when Dewhirst had to leave the fray injured and they missed a clear chance to reduce the deficit when Doherty latched on to a Wormald offload to race 30 metres clear and then handed the ball to an opponent.

The second half once again saw both defences on song, with Wyke prop Simon Owen proving to be a colossus in both attack and defence closely followed by Bank Top hooker Gareth Walker.

A high bomb caused havoc in the visitors’ ranks, leaving full back Paul Lamont to scoop up the loose ball and race over in the corner. The black and whites at last got onto the scoreboard when wingman Lee Kershaw collected a high pass to spin over at the flag.

But that was their final hurrah as the Harriers shut up shop to deservedly clinch the semi-final tie.