Northern Division Yorkshire Division One: Bradford Salem 17 - 20 Dinnington

THE boot of Dinnington captain Jonny West proved the killer blow for Bradford Salem in their home loss.

This despite scoring more tries than their visitors in the mid-table clash which was littered with injury misfortune for the hosts.

Salem crossed the line three times to Dinnington's two, but fly-half West's foot ability proved the kicker.

Both sides had key players missing, but Salem suffered a huge blow when their influential open-side flanker, Rhys Green, had to leave the field after sustaining a shoulder injury in the opening minute.

In spite of the set-back, Salem took an early 5-0 lead when a well-rehearsed backs’ move allowed full back Ryan Smith to race through a gap before sending winger Alex Wood on a clear run to the try-line.

The first-half was riddled with penalties and scoring opportunities were at a premium, but it took a last ditch tackle from Smith to deny Dinnington drawing level after an excellent break down the left flank.

Alex Wood and fellow winger Ben Scholefield were ten both tackled inches from the line and Salem could consider themselves unlucky to be only 5-0 up at the break, especially with Dinnington down to14 men after referee Liam Taylor sent second rower Garry Woodcock to the sin-bin for preventing a quick-tap.

But, Salem’s cause wasn’t helped when the experienced Sam Gardner received a nasty head injury following an unfortunate collision with one of his own players and had to be helped from the field.

A good run by Wood got Salem on the attack straight from the kick off and, despite the ball going loose, scrum half Jamie Simpson regathered before outpacing the cover to score an excellent try.

The skipper missed a relatively simple conversion attempt though, so the hosts had to be content with a 10-0 lead.

With 20 minutes remaining, Salem’s depleted troops were beginning to tire and a string of penalties in Dinnington’s favour allowed the visitors to launch a wave of attacks on the opposition line.

The pressure eventually told as centre Rob Leivars picked a great line to crash over for a try which West improved to reduce the deficit to 10-7.

Another penalty immediately from the restart allowed West to get Dinnington deep into Salem territory and the South Yorkshire side took the lead for the first time with a five metre catch and drive.

West sealed the extras and with 10 minutes remaining added a penalty to his haul, extending the visitor’s advantage to 10 points.

At that point, it looked like Salem would come away empty-handed.

But, Wood burst through to score a brilliant solo try and set up a grandstand finish.

Centre Chris Clough came agonisingly close to scoring in the dying seconds but Dinnington showed great determination to keep hold of their victory.