Bradford & Bingley 31 Alnwick 24

STUART Dixon did not seem too miffed about not getting on the field North One East on Saturday.

Despite Bradford & Bingley’s player-coach having travelled 789 miles overnight by van, ferry and train from Perigueux in south-west France, having been on off-field duty with the England Counties XV who defeated a French Federale XV 24-15, the 37-year-old knew that the result was the most important thing for his club.

Although Northern and West Hartlepool also won, leaving the Bees still in the highest of the three North One East relegation places, Driffield lost, meaning the Bees are two points from safety with three matches left.

Dixon, who seemed ready to enter the fray with a couple of minutes left, said: “I am pretty tired, even though I managed to catch the 8am train from London on Saturday rather than the 10am, and whether I was going to start seemed to change every couple of days through the week.

“It was a typical Bees performance. We got a lead and then inevitably found a way of allowing them back into it – but we did some good things overall.”

On an afternoon that was noticeable for the lack of spectators and an endeavour from both sides to throw the ball around, the visitors took an early lead with a penalty by full back James Bird, which was cancelled out in the eighth minute by one from Richard Scull.

Alnwick then conceded two tries in remarkably similar fashion after 20 and 23 minutes, with the hosts having been awarded a penalty on each occasion by referee Graeme Hall, a Bees player shot out of a ruck of players to dive over on the free plays.

The first try went to Scull after winger Adam Wellington extricated himself out of a tight spot close to the left touchline, and the second to flanker Chris Fisher after Alex Hamard had charged up the right touchline, Scull converting the first and fly half Shaun Driver the second to make it 17-3.

Two penalties by Alnwick – one to fly half Callum Burn and the other to Bird – kept things interesting late in the first half, meaning that the Bees turned round to play towards the cricket field with a lead of only eight points.

However, although flanker James Hamilton scored a try for the Northumbrians on the hour, pack power brought the Bees tries either side of that – firstly to delighted No 8 Dan Cookson and the all-important fourth for the bonus point to industrious prop Simon Hill.

Scull converted both to make it 31-17 but, although the home side survived the sin-binning of Fisher without conceding any points, the same could not be said of the dubious yellow card given to full back Adam Mitchell in the 80th minute, giving Alnwick the chance to score an injury-time try from prop Ben Boothman that was converted by Burn to give the visitors a losing bonus point.

The Bees are still a point adrift of safety but the win not only kept them in touch with Northern, who are immediately above them, but also drew Driffield into the equation, who still have the top three to play but are only three points better off than the Wagon Laners.