INJURY-RAVAGED Bradford Salem put in a commendable performance in their Yorkshire Division One encounter against Moortown at Shay Lane despite losing 29-19.

Salem looked dead and buried when they went 29-0 down with 10 minutes to go, but three tries in quick succession definitely rattled the league leaders in the closing stages.

Missing several key players including captain Christian Baines and vice-captain Harry Hall, Salem head coach Neil Spence, nominated scrum-half Jamie Simpson to lead the side. Spence also gave former Bradford and Bingley player Sven Guttenbeil a first start at fly-half and handed a senior debut to 18-year-old Colt, Josh Tenniswood.

After an error-strewn opening 10 minutes, Salem were the first side to exert pressure and they looked to have scored when Latvian hooker Gundars Griekis touched down from a ruck. However, referee Graham Bentley waved play on allowing Moortown to clear their line.

Tenniswood got his first touch of the ball and showed great footwork as he got the hosts back inside the opposition 22 but, once again, Moortown were able to relieve the pressure as firstly flanker Conor Wood was penalised for holding before Salem were marched back a further 10 metres for back-chat.

Moortown were soon on the attack, and, with 15 minutes gone, they took a 3-0 lead as centre Mark Shires struck the ball through the up-rights after his opposite number Chris Clough was penalised for a high tackle.

It took two last-ditch tackles from Salem’s man of the match Rhys Green to prevent Moortown from adding to their tally.

With 30 minutes played, Moortown won a line-out five metres from the Salem try-line and it took more desperate defending from the hosts to stop the visitors scoring as they were held up following a catch and drive.

However, the pressure began to tell, and, from the next line-out, Moortown finally forced their way over for a try which Shires improved to put the visitors 10-0 in front.

With half-time approaching Tenniswood looked like he had won the chase to the ball from a pin-point kick by Clough, but the referee could not see the grounding and awarded Moortown a 22 drop-out.

Alex Wood replaced Liam Barker on the wing during the break and he was soon in the action as he pulled off a try-saving tackle within two minutes of the restart. However, the reprieve proved to be short-lived as Moortown scrum-half Ed Crossley darted over from a five-metre scrum, Shires adding the extras for a 17-0 advantage.

Moortown were immediately back on the front foot and it needed a brilliant recovery and clearance kick from Salem full-back Max Trueman to rescue the situation.

The visitors continued to press and they chose to go for pushover after Salem were penalised for breaking off a scrum.

Although Salem initially managed to hold out, quick recycled ball and swift handling created a try in the right corner to extend the visitors’ lead to 22-0.

Two minutes later, an uncharacteristic defensive lapse by Salem allowed Moortown fly-half Ed Crossland to exploit a huge gap in midfield and he cantered under the posts for a try, improved by Shires for a 29-0 lead.

From the restart a nicely-timed pass from Green sent supporting prop forward Callum King on a charge downfield, and, following a number of phases, Conor Wood powered over for a try which Guttenbeil improved to reduce the arrears to 29-7.

A further break from Green set up another attack and further pressure created a try for King to close the gap to 29-12.

Salem were now playing with renewed confidence and good runs from Alex Wood and outstanding prop Will Collins set up a try for centre Nick Fontaine, Guttenbeil concerting quickly to give the hosts a sniff of a bonus point with the deficit now just 10 points.