Lymm 8, Bradford & Bingley 19

In the deepening Cheshire gloom, Bradford & Bingley emerged victorious from a close-fought National League Three North game yesterday where defence and the visitors' upper hand in the pack were the deciding factors.

The four points from the win allows Bradford & Bingley to leapfrog Chester into second place in the table, nine points behind leaders Stockport, who the Bees must face home and away later in the season.

Although it was always a very evenly balanced game, Lymm's supporters conceded afterwards that the better side had won.

The Bees never really managed to fire on all cylinders in attack as both sides were thrown off their game by the repeated interventions of the referee.

However, the defensive work right through Martin Whitcombe’s side was first class as the home side tried to get their fleet-footed backline into the game as often as possible, only to be met with a bone-juddering tackle on each occasion.

Playing with the wind at their backs, Bradford & Bingley were first onto the attack and were awarded a penalty almost from the kick-off as the excellent Dave Muckalt tore into the Lymm defence, causing early panic. Gavin Stead duly stepped up to slot the three points over.

Seven minutes later, Stead was on the scoresheet again, calmly landing another penalty.

Lymm replied with a penalty of their own on 13 minutes, and as they started to put together a few phases in attack, their enterprise was rewarded as the clock ticked past the 20-minute mark with a score in the right-hand corner from back-row man Adam Bray.

The home lead was short-lived, however, as Stead stepped up for the Bees to land a third penalty, giving them a 9-8 advantage.

With the wind gusting behind the Bees, it seemed that it would be vital that the visitors improved their lead as the strength of the elements would be worth at least ten points as the sides turned round.

As the half wore on, the Bees continued to press, but it seemed the score would not come until suddenly the ball was spun wide to the right as Grant Litt changed the point of attack.

The ball zipped through a couple of pairs of hands and, for the first time, Stead found himself with some space to run.

As the final Lymm defender came to tackle the Bees' leading scorer, Stead jinked to his right and was in at the corner, giving the visitors a six-point cushion.

The Bradford & Bingley pack had the advantage at the scrum, and when they could get the rolling maul going, but Lymm managed to hold out the Bees juggernaut until right on half-time when Muckalt drove over to claim the final points of the half and of the game.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first as Lymm tried to inject some pace into the game, with several tidy half-breaks giving their supporters reasons to believe they might get on the scoresheet, only to find a barn door in the way as Stuart Dixon, Steve Brimacombe, Litt and Ben Greaves all made crunching tackles, taking man and ball to turn a promising Lymm attack into a Bees counter.

The Bees forwards continued to try and bully their way to the whitewash, only to be held up over the Lymm line six or seven times.

As the gloom deepened, the spark from the Lymm backline faded and Bradford & Bingley had done enough to earn the victory and their rise into second place.