Bradford Salem 13 Moortown 14

Bradford Salem slipped to a second successive league defeat as a resurgent Moortown took the spoils in slippery conditions.

After home fly half Andy Robinson fluffed a relatively simple penalty attempt, Moortown took the lead with a long-range penalty but Salem levelled when Robinson found the target this time.

Bradford went in front when inside centre Sam Gardner supported a midfield break and showed great strength to dive over, Robinson improving for a 10-3 advantage.

However, in the act of scoring Gardner collided with the base of the posts and was carried off with what looked like a serious leg injury.

He was replaced by Marc Gibbons, who normally plays at hooker, but the young Kiwi recruit still managed to make great in-roads with his first touch.

Salem spent a prolonged period in the opposition 22 and were unlucky not to score when No 8 Damien Pearson was hauled down inches from the line. They had to be content with a further Robinson penalty.

Moortown hit back and, after a second successful penalty, a chip ahead bounced kindly for the visitors to reduce the deficit to 13-11 at the break.

In the second half, Salem seemed to find it increasingly difficult to cope with the wet conditions and made too many handling errors.

The visitors took a 14-13 lead with a third successful penalty to set up a tense finale and, although Salem had opportunities to retake the lead, unforced errors continued to let them down.

A kick and chase in the dying seconds almost lead to a try for centre Connor Malarkey but, in what was to be the final play of the game, Salem were awarded a five-metre scrum.

However, despite the Salem forwards being dominant in the scrums, referee Jason Garrick penalised them and a relieved Moortown booted the ball off the pitch to seal a narrow victory.