The Bramley Buffaloes made it back to back wins against West Yorkshire opposition with a 16-12 victory against Huddersfield Rangers despite playing for half the game with 12 men.
Another encouraging crowd of 602 witnessed a tense, ill-tempered affair that reached boiling point on the stroke of half-time when Buffaloes’ sub Andrew Cannon was dismissed for violent conduct.
Bramley opened the scoring on 10 minutes when Steve Gill nipped in at the corner to touch down. The visitors hit back midway through the half with Bahadori finding a gap to score under the posts. Shane Byrne converted to give Rangers a slender lead.
Moments later the hosts regained the initiative as a darting cross field move was rounded off by Shaun Flynn. Rangers drew level on 35 minutes when Byrne slotted over a penalty for ball stealing.
Flynn restored Bramley’s lead just before the break with a penalty awarded for a high tackle to leave the half-time score 10-8 to the Buffaloes.
The Buffaloes came out with all guns blazing in the second half and proceeded to pressure the Rangers’ line. Eventually Huddersfield’s defence gave way on 48 minutes as a bulldozing run from Danny O’Connor set up Scott Pendlebury for a 20 yard dash to the line which Flynn converted.
The Buffaloes went close to extending the lead on a number of occasions with Neil Foulds and Danny O’Connor both guilty of knock-ons with the line at their mercy.
Rangers hit back and nearly reduced the arrears on 72 minutes when Murphy raced down the left wing only to be stopped just a yard from the line by a stunning tackle from Frank Wilson.
Buffaloes’ nerves were on edge though two minutes later when Ben Littlewood went over in the corner but they clung on to record their third win of the season in the LHF Healthplan National League Division Three.
“It was a performance of character,” said Buffaloes assistant coach Richard Harrison.
“We played very well last week at Dudley Hill and it was always going to be tough to match that but we came through despite going down to twelve men.
“It was a silly sending off but once it’s happened it’s happened and at half-time I told the players to up the tempo and close the gaps. I think it showed as we seemed to play with a bit more focus.
“The forwards performed superbly to lay the foundations for the victory and our backs showed a bit of pace that caused problems for Rangers,” added Richard who sees coach Phil Hellewell return to the fray after a family holiday for next week’s crunch trip to South London Storm.
