Game two of the hectic finish to the season saw the Buffaloes travel the short distance to Raider Park, home of the Oulton Raiders. The weather forecasts and the sky were promising rain but thankfully it never came and the game was played in fine weather.
Oulton opened the scoring after two minutes, when Winger George Moore, was on the end of a fast free flowing move, down the Buffaloes right hand side, on the last tackle of the set, Fullback Harry Grayson added the conversion to make the score 6-0.
In the sixth minute Buffaloes Scrum Half Ben Dean, drew the raiders defence towards and sent Nathan Hammond in for the away teams opening score, an unconverted try, reducing the lead to 6-4.
In the tenth minute, Matty Harding made a break in the Buffaloes half of the field and raced sixty metres before been pulled down by the cover defence, the tackler held on too long in the tackle and was swiftly dispatched to the sin bin. From the following penalty, Hammond broke through the defence for his second of the day, the returning Darrell Forster converted the try, giving the Buffaloes the lead 6-10.
Six minutes later, Terry Brown raced through the defence and sprinted 70 metres for a solo try, this time converted by Steve Suddards
On the half hour, Craig Boot, put a deft kick through the defence but the attackers weren’t able to put a hand on the ball before it went dead.
In the thirty third minute Dean again drew the defenders to him and sent the other Centre, Aaron Blake through the hole, for a try, converted again by Suddards giving the Buffaloes a 6-22 lead at half time.
In the opening set of the second, Suddards intercepted a loose pass and opened the second half scoring with a Try, which he successfully converted to make the lead a 6-28.
Playing with the slope the Buffaloes should have capitalised on the 22 point lead they had, but the Raiders fought back starting in the 48th minute when Danny Bowes dived over the line from close range on the last play of the set, the try was converted by Grayson making the score 12-28.
The next period of the game was end to end with both teams trying to break each other down, interspersed with penalties and the Referee calling the Captains out for a chat to calm things down, culminating in the sin binning of Johny Austin in the 63rd minute and Craig Boot five minutes later, both for professional fouls.
In the 75 minute, the game came to life when Adrian Holdsworth scored a try for the home team converted by Grayson, reducing the lead to 10 points, 18-28.
Three minutes later, Oultons Man of the Match, Danny Stanley, crashed through the Buffaloes defence for a try with Grayson on target again, reducing the lead to 4 points, 24-28.
In injury time, Forster crashed over the Oulton line to increase the lead, with Suddards converting, making the score 24-34.
A few minutes later Stanley dived over the line for his second of the day, for an unconverted try making the score 28-34.
In the final minute of injury time, the Buffaloes were awarded a penalty 40 metres out from the Oulton line, Forster coolly stepped up and kicked the ball over black dot, increasing the lead to 28-36, meaning that the game was practically out of reach from the resilient Raiders side, with them needing to score twice to win the game.
From the kick off the Buffaloes took the four drives before the referee finally blew his whistle for full time.
Outlon Raiders: 1) Harry Grayson, 5) George Moore, 3) Greg Colbridge, 4) Adrian Holdsworth, 2) Luke Richardson, 6) Johny Austin, 7) Josh Murray, 10) Jordan Holdroyd, 13) Adam Lunn, 16) Adam Coopman, 12) Tom Lunn, 11) Dom Flannigan, 9) Emile Saunders, Subs: 22) Danny Stanley, 20) Matthew Todd, 15) Danny Bowes, 18) David Jagger
Tries: Moore (2), Bowes (48), Holdsworth (75), Stanley (78, 80)
Goals: Grayson 4
Bramley Buffaloes: 1) Terry Brown, 2) Ayden Webster, 3) Nathan Hammond, 4) Aaron Blake, 5) Liam Copland, 6) Steve Suddards, 7) Ben Dean, 8) Anthony Mills, 9) Craig Boot, 10) Dave Parker, 11) Daz Forster, 12) Sam Nicholls, 13) Matty Harding, Subs: 14) Ryan Campbell, 15) Chris Green, 16) Ryan Jackson, 17) Luke Jackson
Tries: Hammond (6, 10), Brown (16), Blake (33), Suddards (41),Forster (80)
Goals: Forster 2, Suddards 4
Men of the Match
Raiders: Danny Stanley
Buffaloes: Craig Boot