Bradford & Bingley 18, Loughborough Students 38Coming into this fixture, the home side had set themselves a target of 20 points from their seven remaining games to avoid relegation.

But only the most loyal of supporters would have held much hope of the Bees gaining anything from the visit of leaders Loughborough.

However, most spectators at this match would have struggled to point to the reasons why the Wagon Lane outfit face the drop and the Students were such firm favourites before kick-off.

The Bradford & Bingley forwards clearly had the upper hand from first minute to last and, although the visitors’ eight featured players who are bracketed with Premiership clubs, they couldn’t hold the home pack.

With the benefit of a strong wind at their backs in the opening half, Bees dominated and were 13-0 up within a minute of the half-time whistle.

Tom Davidson landed two towering penalties from the halfway line and converted a try from skipper Ryan Wederall, who ploughed over for his seventh score of the campaign on 28 minutes.

In reply, Loughborough always looked dangerous when they were allowed to put any width to their game. Almost as the referee was reaching for the half-time whistle, hooker George Thomas flew over to the left of the posts, meaning the sides turned round at 13-5.

As the Students now had the elements behind them, it was key for Bees to keep the game tight and hope their more austere game plan could hold their fitter and faster visitors in check.

Skipper Phil Burgess went over for the visitors and it looked like the floodgates might open. Although they ran in a further four scores, it was far from a rout as the physical approach of the home side kept the Lough-borough bench busy.

The sheer will of the home pack was rewarded with a penalty try as regulation time expired.

The Bees looked likely to sneak a bonus point until a fumbled pass gifted Ashley Smith a try where he was able to sprint home from more than 70 metres.

Bees’ star man was John Graham.