Bradford Salem 17 West Park Leeds 10

UNBEATEN Bradford Salem stand on the brink of promotion from SSE Yorkshire Division Two – but they did it the hard way against their closest rivals.

On an afternoon of uncompromising rugby, the leaders had to play the final 58 minutes with only 14 men after the controversial dismissal of centre Chris Clough, and were down to 13 when their visitors from Bramhope finally breached the home line in the 79th minute.

Having done that, it looked as if second-placed West Park Leeds would clinch the unlikeliest of draws but more stubborn Salem defence denied them, despite them being two men light.

With third-placed West Leeds winning 31-18 at in-form Keighley, all this means that the Heaton club, who play their game in hand at home to second-from-bottom Sheffield Medicals next Saturday, need three more points to be assured of promotion and 11 more to be assured of the championship.

Salem's director of rugby Sam Gardner said: "I am proud that we kept our line intact for so long, and the desire of the team was tremendous.

"We wanted to run the ball a bit but after Chris Clough was sent off. We changed tactics and kept the ball tighter, and we were well organised.

"It was worrying when we went down to 13 men, as we had done the same thing at Moortown, but we just managed to hold them out.

"The sending off of Chris was a bit harsh but it was ruled as dangerous play."

West Park Leeds had first use of the diagonal crosswind and the home side soon conceded three penalties on an afternoon when they gave away many before fly half Andy Robinson ran his way out of the home 22 in the 15th minute and found lock Dan Snowden in support.

Front-rowers John Bradbury and Simon Davies continued the drive, with the latter being only inches short of the line before time seemed to stand still, Snowden reacting first and picking up the ball to dive over.

West Park Leeds winger James Kear was yellow carded for a no-arms tackle but a minute later Clough was sent off by referee Mark Smith for dangerous play – something that looked clumsy rather than malicious.

However, Salem were next on the scoresheet, Robinson kicking a penalty to touch in the 32nd minute and Davies charging for the line and stretching out an arm to score.

A second melee – the Clough incident was the first – led to a ticking off for visiting skipper John Fletcher in the 38th minute before West Park Leeds were held up over Salem's line during the seven minutes of added time.

Visiting full back Simon Towler reduced the arrears with a 49th-minute penalty but, with Salem also failing to exploit the crosswind and West Park Leeds blowing a counter-attacking opportunity, the home side grabbed a critical try just after the hour.

Having forced a five-metre scrum following good work by full back Danny Belcher and right wing Ryan Smith, Salem were forced back into midfield and had lost possession when replacement Connor Malarkey grabbed a vital interception 38 metres out and grounded the ball near enough the posts for Belcher to convert.

Trailing 17-3, West Park Leeds threw the kitchen sink at Salem but didn't really make their pressure count until Davies left the field injured with ten minutes left and Salem right winger Sam Savage was sin-binned for a high tackle in the 78th minute.

A minute later, West Park Leeds No 8 Adam Booth plunged over for a try and Towler converted, Salem then putting more pressure on themselves when Robinson's kick-off went dead.

However, the home side pluckily survived to put themselves a four-try draw away from returning to Yorkshire Division One.