Bradford Salem 5, Redcar 32; Bill Marshall reports from Shay Lane.

THE loss of two key players in the opening ten minutes of the second half effectively ended Bradford Salem's chances of reaching the final of the UAP Yorkshire Shield.

Hooker Simon Markey - as brave as they come - suffered a recurrence of the neck injury that had caused him to leave the field the previous Monday in an Aire-Wharfe Cup quarter-final against Bradford and Bingley.

And full back Joe Simpson, such a potent attacking threat, had to give best to the hamstring that he had tweaked in the first half.

Salem's first team manager Paul Rae said: "The scoreline slightly flattered Redcar in the end. But to lose Simon and Joe so early in the second half certainly didn't help us. Simon is so influential and Joe is so dangerous.

"The way we started you wouldn't have thought they were three divisions above us, but it was our fourth big game in three weeks.

"The previous Saturday we gave Yarnbury too much respect in the first half, but that wasn't the case this time. We had a good chance of winning.

"Darren Close had a really good game at No 8, Steve Cowman played well at flanker, Simon and joe were big factors before they went off, and Andy Dalton had his best game of the season at fly half.

"But they had some big forwards, and you can see how well Garry Schofield played for them at fly half because his shirt was still white at the end of the match.

"He kicked well, but I was still expecting a little bit more from him in other areas. I was a bit disappointed with him overall.

"However, they certainly played a different game to the one I had been told they would play."

Schofield, who is on £2,000 a month as player-coach for the nine months of the season, could not hide his satisfaction at leading Redcar to the first final in their 79-year history.

"I am delighted," said the 34-year-old former Leeds and Great Britain rugby league skipper. "Their first try acted as a wake-up call to us as it took us 20 minutes to 'warm-up.' After that we went from strength to strength and I was chuffed with the way we played."

Dreams of an upset came into sharper focus in the seventh minute when Dalton's long pass found Brown. He then off-loaded to Simpson, who used his pace and side-step to go over.

By half-time though Redcar led 14-5 with tries by No 8 Graham Evans and a more dubious effort from his brother, centre Paul Evans, who seemed to collide with Simpson in mid-air before falling on the loose ball from Schofield's up and under.

Schofield converted both, but it took until the 58th minute to increase the lead, Schofield stroking over a penalty after the home backs were offside.

Paul Evans cut through several players for his second try two minutes later, Schofield converting, and three minutes after that he completed his hat-trick, intercepting 35 metres out and outpacing Neil Klenk to score.

The final 15 minutes were only notable for Redcar losing their discipline, flanker Glenn Teeley being lucky to escape with only a yellow card after stamping on Salem skipper Mark Ramsbottom.

Salem's main problem now is who to play at scrum half in tonight's Aire-Wharfe Cup semi-final at home to Old Otliensians.

Simon Fox broke an arm two weeks ago, Terry Franklin is working in london today and can't get back in time, and Simpson is virtually certain to be ruled out by that hamstring injury.

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