Baildon 28

Bramley Phoenix Park 12

Baildon are back in a promotion berth in Yorkshire Division Three.

The mood was a little downbeat after a flattering 28-12 victory over derby rivals Bramley Phoenix Park at Jenny Lane.

But the mood lightened when it was discovered that Thornensians had beaten second-placed Roundhegians 16-11, pushing the Leeds club down to fourth as they were also overtaken by West Leeds, victors over Northallerton.

Baildon were without scrum half James Dawson and player-coach Hugh Gumbs at fly half, but wingers Nick Oddy and Richard Kingham were soon in the game.

The hosts played uphill having won the toss, and there were penetrating runs into both defences until Kingham finished off a Baildon back move to go over in the corner after ten minutes.

Bramley pressed hard again only to find themselves ten points adrift in the 20th minute when Oddy had a fine run at the defence and left them trailing in his wake as he grounded in the opposite corner.

The visitors were still well in the game, but they lost a scrum and had to retreat after a Baildon attack. Following what looked to be a blatant knock on by a charging Lister, Chris Smithies - playing at centre - gathered to go between the posts, giving Lister an easy conversion.

Bramley missed three reasonable penalty attempts and the scoreline would have been more accurate had those attempts not failed.

At half-time, flanker Nick Murphy (back) was replaced by Paul Watson, and James Wood made way in the front row for Danny Helstrip.

From the re-start a scrum was awarded and a tete-a-tete by props Peter Lowth (Baildon) and David Oliver (Bramley) resulted in both spending ten minutes behind the posts.

Although David Oliver left the field, his son Adam put Bramley on the board six minutes later with an unconverted try following a defensive lapse by the home side.

Lister extended the gap shortly afterwards with a penalty kick after Bramley had encroached.

Baildon's captain Phil Wilson was replaced by Andy Pollard, but with both Murphy and Wilson off the field, Baildon's pack were put under the cosh by the visitors, who started to control the set-pieces.

Lister relieved the pressure somewhat with 13 minutes left on the clock with a long-range penalty which went in off the 'cushion', and Kingham rounded off a good personal performance by going over in the corner following another fine run after being released by the backs.

Bramley, however, had the last laugh when Dave Oliver made up for his earlier indescretion and crashed over from short range with Darren Robbins adding the extra two points.

Baildon will still have to work hard, however, as their points difference is not as impressive as their promotion rivals.