AFTER the traumatic season Bradford & Bingley endured last year, which saw them go winless, suffer a points deduction and face disciplinary actions against club staff, there was a palpable relief among the visiting supporters at full-time on Saturday.

They may have lost this opening day Regional Two North East fixture 25-17 at Old Brodleians, but it looks like the side will be competitive this time around and the club’s modest ambition to survive in this division looks achievable.

Indeed, the consensus among the Bees supporters and players after the game was that Carl Paterson’s men were only a couple of errant passes away from winning.

The visitors actually dominated territory and possession in the second half, but could only get over the whitewash twice, despite pinning their hosts inside the 22 for about 35 of the 40 minutes during that period.

Playing down the slope, the home side started the game brightly and deserved to take the lead, as early pressure gave them a penalty in front of the posts inside the first two minutes.

Six minutes later, the home side ran in the first try of the game as the Old Brods’ pack got the upper hand in a maul close to the line, with one of their front row eventually breaking free to score.

With the conversion added, it was perhaps looking like the Wagon Lane side might be in for a long day at the office.

However, as the game wore on, the Bees became more cohesive and the forwards were matching everything that their hosts could throw at them.

However, the home side were able to capitalise on the chances that came their way and with the first quarter of the game complete, the home side were 22 points to the good, with the visitors yet to trouble the score board.

However, the Bees continue to battle hard and both centres, Joe Pearson and Jack Malthouse, made good breaks up the middle.

The Bees back row of Ed King, Jim Nicholas and David Exley were also getting more involved, as the away side picked up the pace and made several promising breaks deep into Old Brods territory.

With the home side also down to 14 men following a yellow card, the Bees looked to be gradually getting the upper hand.

On the half-hour mark, the Bees pressure finally told, as a neat handling move across from left to right, involving backs and forwards, put hooker Luke Spauls through to score.

Ben Hemsley was narrowly wide with the conversion, but given the Bees were set to play the second half with the significant slope to their advantage, the 17 points the home side led by did not seem insurmountable.

Right from the off, the Bees were deep into Old Brods’ territory but could not quite press home their advantage.

With the slope of the pitch dropping away to the right hand corner, the Bees seemed intent in playing the game away from that side of the field and up towards the left hand touchline.

At least two clear chances went begging as the final pass fired with some speed bounced off an unsuspecting player, where a more measured approach may have resulted in a score.

After a full 25 minutes camped in the Brods half, the Bees were finally rewarded as concerted pressure near the line saw second rower Joe Daley reach out to score.

As the game ticked into the final quarter of an hour, the Bees supporters in the crowd thought there was surely enough time to get back into the Brods 22 and claim two more scores, which would have brought a victory for the Wagon Lane side.

But it was the home side who were next to score. Having finally broken out of their own half, it was time for Old Brodleians to get on the front foot.

There were a couple of charges forward up the left hand side of the field and increasingly desperate defence from the Bees eventually resulted in a penalty, which was converted to push the home side 15 points clear with less than 10 minutes to play.

This meant the visitors needed to score three times to claim the victory, but as the ball continued to be fumbled or passed the wrong way, the final play never seemed to be coming that would get the scoreboard moving.

With around four minutes left, a moment of panic in the home defence saw the ball pop into the arms of wing man, Connor Capper, for a converted try.

But the score came too little, too late for the defeated Bees.