Bradford Cup Final: Clayton 27, West Bowling 8.

Clayton stand-off Scott Pendlebury gave a sparkling second half performance to lead his side to a well-deserved victory over arch rivals West Bowling in the Rhodes Booth Ramsbottom Bradford Cup final at Parry Lane.

West Bowling opened the scoring after ten minutes with a Jason Woolham penalty for offside and when Clayton's discipline faltered again shortly afterwards he duly obliged to make the score 4-0.

In a poor opening 40 minutes which saw both sides drop the ball with alarming regularity, the main highlight was the fact that Clayton had to change their kit when six jerseys were torn to shreds in the tackle.

Bowling's leading try-scorer Martin Tordoff once again proved to be their saviour when he collected a long Lee Hunter pass to cross the whitewash to give his team-mates an 8-0 half-time lead.

It was obvious on the restart that wily coach Paul Gill had rumbled Bowling's game plan when man-of-the-match Pendlebury started the move that saw Chris Parr take the ball at speed and put fellow centre Paul Cornforth on a 20-metre glide to the posts. Parr converted to put Clayton well and truly back in the game at 8-6.

Just three minutes later Pendlebury ghosted past four defenders to cross at the sticks without a glove being laid on him and Parr again converted.

Bowling's renowned front row partnership of Mick Gorman and Glenn Barraclough were being led a merry dance by their opposite numbers Mark Anderson and Peter Milnes and it came as no surprise when a loose pass was seized upon by Pendlebury to put Parr on a weaving run to the corner.

Clayton did not seem to miss the loss of under-18 Great Britain international forward Craig Pickthall who was sin-binned for the use of a raised elbow.

The Villagers went further in front when Martin Redgrave powered over in the corner and influential forward Dave Todd made the game well and truly safe when he burst a Paul Gardner tackle to crash over near the posts.

Parr converted and Clayton's day was complete.

Referee Brian Rolls was instrumental in ensuring that both sides were allowed to play and a fine spectacle resulted.

West Bowling: Owen; Gregory, Tordoff, Leek, Priestley; Woolham, Garside; Gorman, Barraclough, Key, Metcalf, Hunter, Fallon. Subs: Basha, Annetts, Benn, Gardener.

Clayton: Collins; Robertshaw, Parr, Cornforth, Redgrave; Pendlebury, Sykes; Anderson, Milnes, Schofield, Todd, Pickthall, Wood. Subs: Swales, Parkinson, Robinson, Dodsley.

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