Anyone scanning the Yorkshire Three results could be forgiven for thinking that this was a close encounter, however Halifax Vandals were left wondering how they only finished with a five-point winning margin.

The home side outscored the visitors three tries to one, the set-piece was dominant from minute one, while the defence was barely troubled.

However a combination of the weather, the stop-start nature of the game and some wasted chance (including two dropped balls over the line) meant the score was a lot closer than Vandals would have liked.

Skipton were handed an early gift in the second minute when Chris Robinson’s looping pass was snaffled by Andrew Munro, with the Skipton skipper going the length of the field for the opening score. The conversion in front of the sticks was missed.

Vandals regrouped and on six minutes they were in front when Joe Bryson broke from the base of a 5m scrum to power over. Jimmy Crowther added the extras.

It was soon 12-5 with Robinson winning the race to the ball after Jordan Bloem had hacked on following Danny Richardson’s break.

With the scum dominant, Vandals spurned another opportunity as Bryson knocked on over the line.

Skipton hit back with a penalty, but they found themselves down to 14 and then 13 men as they had players binned for high tackles. And they were lucky that a third high tackle resulted in just a penalty, while the referee missed the number of another Skipton player who caught Bryson high on the line - although he did award the penalty try.

At 19-8 up at half-time, Vandals fancied their chances of sealing the bonus point but it wasn’t to be - and there were few highlights over the second 40 minutes as the game failed to spark into life.

A yellow card to Aaron Carrington was followed by a penalty to Skipton but that was the only points until two minutes into injury time, with both sides seeing shots at goal sail wide in the Warley wind.

There was a yellow card for Bryson, while Harry Palmer had the ball knocked loose as he reached out for the line.

As the clocked ticked over into the red, Skipton opted for a shot at goal to ensure they at least left Warley with a losing bonus point.

The two sides will do battle again next week, this time at Skipton’s ground in the first round of the Yorkshire Vase.