Bradford Salem lost out in the battle for fourth place in Yorkshire Two as they went down 20-12 at a committed Sheffield Medicals side.

Despite having the better of the early exchanges, Salem went behind 5-0 when Medics captain Alex Fawdry exploited a gap on the blind-side of a five-metre scrummage.

Buoyed by this unexpected score against the run of play, the students dominated the remainder of the half and Salem were lucky to be only five points down at the break.

Medics increased their advantage to eight points with a penalty early in the second half and, on 60 minutes, they extended the lead to 13 points with converted try.

Salem hit back with a try from open-side flanker Dave Hutton to bring the score-line to 13-5 but another well-taken try from Medics gave the home side a 20-5 lead.

Replacement winger Carl Walker gave Salem hope when he scored from a kick and chase, fly-half Andy Robinson tagging on the extras to reduce the arrears to 20-12.

Then, with only minutes remaining, it looked like winger Danny Thomas had set up a thrilling finale when he intercepted a pass in his own 22 but the referee ruled that he was off-side so Medics ran out deserved winners.