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Match report courtesy of Bill Marshall
Nick Patterson24 Mar - 08:08
Last Week v Brid
A COMBINATION of their own indiscipline and inconsistent refereeing put a massive spoke in Bradford & Bingley’s promotion bid from Counties Two Yorkshire.
After their 37-29 defeat to Bridlington at Wagon Lane, the Bees are now 13 points behind leaders Old Otliensians, who they visit on Saturday, and 11 adrift of second-placed Roundhegians, who are at third-placed Bridlington at the weekend on a day when the top four meet.
It is rarely a good thing when the referee is one of the main topics of conversation afterwards, but that was the case with Harry Isaacs here.
Bees coach Ali Macdonald said: “It is not so much a problem with the interpretation. It is when the interpretation is applied inconsistently.
“You are looking for consistency, but then we don’t help ourselves when we see the infraction come against us and we appeal and get penalised for appealing.
“If the decision was consistent then there wouldn’t be any need to appeal, but ultimately we let that victim mentality creep in like we saw at Baildon.
“The job is hard enough as a ref and it really frustrates me when players lose their focus from playing and try and referee the game, but I thought that we were playing American football when Bridlington scored their first try from a forward pass.
“Even from where I was standing the guy had to really stretch out in front of him to take it, and one of our yellow cards (to Lewis Brook) was so frustrating because the referee had given us a penalty for a high tackle when the player was two foot off the ground and moving horizontally. How else are we meant to tackle him?
“And then two minutes later their man is running down the middle and gets hit with a really solid shot (by Tom Dyson) and we get another yellow card, and we didn’t really see any of those decisions reciprocated when we had possession and suffered high shots.”
Momentum was, however, all with the Bees at the start of the second half as they went from being 24-10 down to 31-24 down inside 13 minutes.
Macdonald added: “In the second half, Bridlington were there for the taking and we lost our heads a bit. That is frustrating because we are probably out of the running for promotion now.
“The first 20 minutes of the match were disappointing for us. We didn’t really do much apart from keep giving the ball back to Bridlington, and I think that we conceded six penalties in that time, which were penalties.
“I think that we only had possession for about three minutes in that entire half so to come away only 24-10 down we thought that it was not looking too bad considering that we haven’t played well.
“We let them get three tries up before we got it together, we have gone down to 13 men and scored a try in that period and it was all looking positive.
“I was proud of how we fought back and I never thought that we would lose this game, and for us not losing our heads we would have pipped them at the end in the same way that Baildon did the previous week.
“Dom Walker only missed one kick at goal and that was the last one that could have got us an extra point, but he kicked well and defended well.
“Meanwhile, (two-try) Ben Hemsley is very tenacious and understands where the space is and how to exploit it.”
Next up for the Bees is a trip to Otliensians, who suffered one of their three defeats this season at Wagon Lane.
Macdonald said: “We have a tough run-in and Otliensians are a very good outfit. I am not thinking about us finishing in the top four (if the leagues are re-organised and more teams get promoted). I am only thinking about the top two and we are probably out of that race.
“But it has been a very positive campaign and next season we start putting through some of our Academy lads. The production line is there (probably two forwards and one back) and I am really looking forward to that.”
The first high tackle decision against the Bees came as early as the second minute, but centre Will Watts missed an eminently kickable penalty from just outside the 22.
However, the visitors went ahead four minutes later after flanker Jamie Martin - son of Bees stalwart Dale - ran well, left winger Cooper Paddock going over from what looked very much like a forward pass.
Watts nailed a fine conversion, but the hosts soon hit back with a Walker penalty after both captains had been spoken to following a midfield melee.
The first of two 50-22s by Bridlington scrum half, man-of-the-match Kees Millar, kept the pressure on the Bees and they went further with tries by centre Will Davies and winger Courtney Etienne in the 18th and 21st minutes, Watts hitting an upright with the conversion attempt to Davies’ try.
Trailing 17-3, Bradford & Bingley lost prop Brook to a yellow card in the 36th minute and scrum half Dyson to one eight minutes later, Bridlington No 8 Callam Sanderson scoring a stoppage-time try that Watts converted.
However, there was still time for 13-man Bradford & Bingley to score their first try a minute later via prop Alex Leadbeater, which Walker improved.
Martin scampered over for Bridlington’s fifth try four minutes into the second half, Watts converting for 31-10, but that is when the Bees started their comeback in earnest.
Back to 15 men now, winger Ryan Wilson, Walker and Hemsley interpassed down the left wing for the latter to score, Walker converting well.
In the 52nd minute, replacement Adam Mapals scored, with Walker’s conversion putting the home side only seven points adrift with all of the momentum.
However, Watts landed penalties in the 74th and 78th minutes, the second after a melee behind the referee’s back, Hemsley getting the Bees a four-try bonus point with a try four minutes into stoppage time from a tap and go.
Walker’s conversion went wide, denying the Bees a second bonus point for finishing seven points or less behind the victors.
After their 37-29 defeat to Bridlington at Wagon Lane, the Bees are now 13 points behind leaders Old Otliensians, who they visit on Saturday, and 11 adrift of second-placed Roundhegians, who are at third-placed Bridlington at the weekend on a day when the top four meet.
It is rarely a good thing when the referee is one of the main topics of conversation afterwards, but that was the case with Harry Isaacs here.
Bees coach Ali Macdonald said: “It is not so much a problem with the interpretation. It is when the interpretation is applied inconsistently.
“You are looking for consistency, but then we don’t help ourselves when we see the infraction come against us and we appeal and get penalised for appealing.
“If the decision was consistent then there wouldn’t be any need to appeal, but ultimately we let that victim mentality creep in like we saw at Baildon.
“The job is hard enough as a ref and it really frustrates me when players lose their focus from playing and try and referee the game, but I thought that we were playing American football when Bridlington scored their first try from a forward pass.
“Even from where I was standing the guy had to really stretch out in front of him to take it, and one of our yellow cards (to Lewis Brook) was so frustrating because the referee had given us a penalty for a high tackle when the player was two foot off the ground and moving horizontally. How else are we meant to tackle him?
“And then two minutes later their man is running down the middle and gets hit with a really solid shot (by Tom Dyson) and we get another yellow card, and we didn’t really see any of those decisions reciprocated when we had possession and suffered high shots.”
Momentum was, however, all with the Bees at the start of the second half as they went from being 24-10 down to 31-24 down inside 13 minutes.
Macdonald added: “In the second half, Bridlington were there for the taking and we lost our heads a bit. That is frustrating because we are probably out of the running for promotion now.
“The first 20 minutes of the match were disappointing for us. We didn’t really do much apart from keep giving the ball back to Bridlington, and I think that we conceded six penalties in that time, which were penalties.
“I think that we only had possession for about three minutes in that entire half so to come away only 24-10 down we thought that it was not looking too bad considering that we haven’t played well.
“We let them get three tries up before we got it together, we have gone down to 13 men and scored a try in that period and it was all looking positive.
“I was proud of how we fought back and I never thought that we would lose this game, and for us not losing our heads we would have pipped them at the end in the same way that Baildon did the previous week.
“Dom Walker only missed one kick at goal and that was the last one that could have got us an extra point, but he kicked well and defended well.
“Meanwhile, (two-try) Ben Hemsley is very tenacious and understands where the space is and how to exploit it.”
Next up for the Bees is a trip to Otliensians, who suffered one of their three defeats this season at Wagon Lane.
Macdonald said: “We have a tough run-in and Otliensians are a very good outfit. I am not thinking about us finishing in the top four (if the leagues are re-organised and more teams get promoted). I am only thinking about the top two and we are probably out of that race.
“But it has been a very positive campaign and next season we start putting through some of our Academy lads. The production line is there (probably two forwards and one back) and I am really looking forward to that.”
The first high tackle decision against the Bees came as early as the second minute, but centre Will Watts missed an eminently kickable penalty from just outside the 22.
However, the visitors went ahead four minutes later after flanker Jamie Martin - son of Bees stalwart Dale - ran well, left winger Cooper Paddock going over from what looked very much like a forward pass.
Watts nailed a fine conversion, but the hosts soon hit back with a Walker penalty after both captains had been spoken to following a midfield melee.
The first of two 50-22s by Bridlington scrum half, man-of-the-match Kees Millar, kept the pressure on the Bees and they went further with tries by centre Will Davies and winger Courtney Etienne in the 18th and 21st minutes, Watts hitting an upright with the conversion attempt to Davies’ try.
Trailing 17-3, Bradford & Bingley lost prop Brook to a yellow card in the 36th minute and scrum half Dyson to one eight minutes later, Bridlington No 8 Callam Sanderson scoring a stoppage-time try that Watts converted.
However, there was still time for 13-man Bradford & Bingley to score their first try a minute later via prop Alex Leadbeater, which Walker improved.
Martin scampered over for Bridlington’s fifth try four minutes into the second half, Watts converting for 31-10, but that is when the Bees started their comeback in earnest.
Back to 15 men now, winger Ryan Wilson, Walker and Hemsley interpassed down the left wing for the latter to score, Walker converting well.
In the 52nd minute, replacement Adam Mapals scored, with Walker’s conversion putting the home side only seven points adrift with all of the momentum.
However, Watts landed penalties in the 74th and 78th minutes, the second after a melee behind the referee’s back, Hemsley getting the Bees a four-try bonus point with a try four minutes into stoppage time from a tap and go.
Walker’s conversion went wide, denying the Bees a second bonus point for finishing seven points or less behind the victors.
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