North One East: Bradford & Bingley 14 Driffield 33

IN THE final analysis, there can be no doubting that the better team won this entertaining North One East fixture, although Bradford & Bingley were at least the equal of their high-flying visitors for large parts of this game and indeed led by two tries to one for a 15-minute period midway through the first half.

Two of the five tries that Driffield ran in were fortuitous as a loose ball could easily have ended up in a Bees player's hands, but instead dollied up for a Driffield player to romp in.

Driffield got the scoreboard moving in the early exchanges as a couple of missed tackles out wide on the left of the Bees defence turned an innocuous looking move from distance into a straight run for the line, as the Driffield backs suddenly had all the room up the right wing resulting in a score under the posts with barely two minutes gone.

Ben Dinsdale claimed the score and slotted the conversion.

Having lost Phil Greaves in the warm-up, the Bees again had their major kicking option removed from their armoury, and Richard Tafa was asked to fill in at No 10.

With Tafa close to the action, it was inevitable that the Bees would get some momentum going up the middle of the park, and as the home side settled into their game they started to ask a few questions of the Driffield defence.

On 13 minutes, the Bees got their initial reward as Corey Spencer saw a gap next to a ruck around 20 metres out and pinned his ears back to gallop for the line.

The young prop, filling in at second row, was fortunate that his sprinting prowess over a short distance was equal to any wrong-footed Driffield defenders as he plunged over for the five points, with Tom Cummins tacking on the extras.

With their next incursion into the Driffield 22 only two minutes later, the home side took the lead as Tafa pulled out a trick he has used down the years and broke through the middle of a gaggle of players to take the visiting defence by surprise and follow Spencer's example in galloping home near the posts, with Cummins again obliging with the conversion.

The Bees were forced to shuffle their resources as Tafa pulled up with a thigh injury and Michael Crotch also left the fray with a leg injury.

Almost as soon as Tafa jogged into the treatment room on 26 minutes, Driffield were on the scoresheet again through Craig Gray, with Dinsdale's kick bringing the scores level.

Despite the shuffled side, the Bees looked equal to Driffield in most areas of the game and, despite one or two apparent problems at the scrum, it seemed the sides would go in at half-time all-square.

As the watch ticked deep into time added on, Driffield had other ideas, however, and seemed determined to batter down the Bees defensive line to claim the lead.

As a final telling surge for the whitewash looked likely to bring that score, the Driffield player leading the charge dropped the ball, but it squirted kindly to another blue-and-white shirted player Sam Furbank, and the sides turned round at 21-14.

All was not lost for the home side and it seemed possible that the game could still be rescued.

However any hopes of a surprise result seemed dashed Craig Gray claimed try number four as a Driffield move to the left of the posts looked to have broken down as a wild pass looped out from the centres.

The ball could have gone anywhere but appeared to take a kindly deflection off a Bees defenders' outstretched arm and land in the arms of the onrushing attacker.

That score really seemed to take the wind out of the Bees sails, and Driffield now looked like a side who were second in the table.

It only seemed to be a matter of time before another score arrived, but it took until the hour mark for the fifth score to arrive, but Gary Stephenson was over the line to leave Dinsdale with the final scoring action of an entertaining contest.