West Bowling 26 Ideal Isberg 6

Two tries from wingman Paul Gardner steered West Bowling to a comfortable win over Ideal Isberg at Bankfoot Oval.

Glenn Barraclough's men made a slow start and it came as no surprise when Ideal hit the front with a penalty from stand-off Nick Longley when the hosts were caught ball-stealing.

The lowly Hull side continued to frustrate Bowling with their enthusiastic tackling but when the ball was moved out wide, home centre Mark Dunning broke clear, only to fall to a last-ditch tackle from full back Danny Wyatt.

A speculative Isberg kick on the last tackle was collected in style by full back Peter Simpson.

He quickly passed the ball to the unmarked Gardner, who powered down the touchline leaving the Isberg cover in his wake in an 80-metre dash to the corner. Fellow wingman Lee Innes was wide with the conversion attempt.

The introduction of former Keighley Cougar second-row forward Ricky Helliwell raised the tempo and when his long pass was knocked on by an Ideal defender stand-off Danny Ramsden sold a perfect dummy from the scrum to cross under the uprights, leaving Innes an easy conversion.

With three minutes left to the break, Isberg substitute forward Darren Bumby drove over from five metres out and reached out for a fingertip touchdown to close the half 10-6.

Bowling were quickly out of the blocks on the restart and when the visitors were caught interfering at the play-the-ball, player-coach Barraclough took a quick tap. The ball was moved out wide and Helliwell came through on the angle to bounce three defenders out of his path on his charge to the whitewash. Innes was again on target with the extras.

With the Hull side wilting under the constant pressure, Bowling once again swept downfield and crisp passing between centres Dunning and Martin Tordoff carved out the opportunity for Innes to scamper in at the corner. Ideal's woes continued when second-row forward Mark Spence was needlessly sent to the sin bin for backchatting referee Richard Stockdale.

With an hour on the clock, Ramsden sucked in his opposite number from a scrum to send Gardner pounding in at the posts for his second try of the match. Innes added the two to give Bowling clear water at 26-6.

With Isberg on the canvas the Bowling pack continued the onslaught and prop forward Lee Hutchinson had a try disallowed when he failed to ground the ball properly.

Second-row forward Simon Owen was also denied with a carbon copy attempt shortly afterwards.

The win keeps West Bowling handily placed in seventh spot, just five points behind leaders Thornhill Trojans with a game in hand.