West Bowling played their part in a titanic Division One battle against West Hull at the Bankfoot Oval - but the visitors proved too strong for them.

The game started off at a pace to be expected from two sides fighting to stay in touch with League leaders Ince Rose Bridge.

And after only two minutes, Bowling gained an early advantage when following some ill-discipline from Hull, full back Lee Innes slotted over a penalty.

Visiting stand off Loz Wildboar proved to be a thorn in the side of Bowling all afternoon and he opened his account after six minutes with a penalty goal to level the score.

The first half remained a tight affair with neither side giving an inch in defensive quarters and the scores remained even until the 30th minute when Bowling conceded another penalty and Wildboar made no mistake to edge Hull into a 4-2 lead.

Both teams continued to press forward but neither could find a way through some extremely tough tackling.

With the first half drawing to a close, Hull's ill discipline showed once more and Innes gratefully accepted the chance to even the scores at the break.

In the second half, Bowling came out fired up and for the first ten minutes heaped pressure on the Hull line with wave after wave of attacks.

But they were guilty at times of some sloppy handling which left them unable to capitalise on all their possession.

The turning point came after 50 minutes when, with Bowling again attacking the Hull line, a wayward pass fell into the arms of Pete Crambourne, who left everyone in his wake, racing the full length of the field to score under the posts. With Wildboar converting, Bowling were left feeling aggrieved and trailing 10-4.

Bowling continued with their game-plan and a strong charge by forward Ricky Helliwell saw him just held up on his back over the line.

Bowling were again hit with a sucker punch on the hour mark when Hull winger Lee Gomersal created the overlap 20 yards out before going in at the corner. Wildboar missed the conversion to leave the scores at 14-4.

Bowling battled hard, but with dropped ball a problem, compounded by an astute kicking game from the visitors, the home side struggled to put points on the board.

The final nail in the coffin came after 73 minutes when chief tormentor Wildboar shot through for a touchdown which he goaled himself to give Hull and an unassailable lead of 20-4.

Bowling showed great spirit throughout and a late consolation try typified their never-say-die attitude. Martin Tordoff took an offload and crashed over at the corner.

But it was that man Wildboar again who had the last word when with seconds remaining he dropped a goal to give Hull the two points and push Bowling down to fourth place.

Game stars for Bowling were second-row forward Nigel Halmshaw and under-18 winger Ryan Smith.

Centre Tordoff said: "We didn't play badly but we didn't play particularly well either.

"It was the interception try that knocked it out of us really."