Dudley Hill used their size and strength close to the try line to bulldoze their way to victory over Thornhill Trojans as the teams returned to action in the National Conference Yorkshire A after a break.

The Bradford team played to their strengths and seemingly became more composed and confident the longer this game went on as they recorded a 24-14 victory.

The Trojans, on the other hand, despite an encouraging first half performance, simply drifted out of this game in the latter stages, seemingly intent on gifting Dudley Hill possession with needless indiscipline.

Johnny Campbell looked solid for the Trojans at full-back – not bad for a player who until a month ago was officially retired. There were also encouraging performances from Sam Ratcliffe and man of the match Brad Llewellyn.

Oli Boocock gets Thornhill Trojans moving against Dudley Hill. Picture: Thornhill Trojans

placeholder image — Oli Boocock gets Thornhill Trojans moving against Dudley Hill. Picture: Thornhill Trojans

Dudley Hill scored early on, taking advantage of a Thornhill error as they attempted to run the ball away from their own line. Ash Hutchinson forced his way over from close range and Joe Kellett converted.

The Trojans received a boost when Brad Llewellyn broke clear for a long range score, racing 60 metres and showing tremendous speed to cross for a try which Ratcliffe converted.

But another error gifted Dudley Hill possession and this was compounded when the referee called for a set reset. The ball was flung out wide and Jack Smith went over for the second try for the home side with Kellett converting.

The irrepressible Campbell continued to rally Thornhill and suddenly brought them back into the game as he broke and surged towards the corner, proving to be unstoppable as he went over for an unconverted try.

Near half-time tempters briefly boiled over. The referee defused the situation by sending Thornhill's Elliot Robson and Dudley Hill's Ryan Dickinson to the sin-bin.

With Dudley Hill holding a narrow two-point interval lead, the Trojans were still very much in this game with everything to play for.

But the second half got under way with the hosts forcing their way over from close range. This time it was Jamel Goodall with the four pointer and Kellett converted.

Thornhill's last score of the game was created by Ryan Mitchell when he broke away. With options either side of him, he chose to send out a pass to winger Zak Haigh. The ball was collected and Haigh dived over for an unconverted try in the corner.

Victory was secured for Dudley Hill when they once again played to their strengths close to the line. This time Elliot Culling shrugged off tacklers to score and Kellett added the extras.

By now the game looked to have drifted away from Thornhill and when Robson was shown his second yellow card of the game, this time for kneeing a player in the head, it was a matter of waiting for the referee to blow the full-time whistle to confirm victory for Dudley Hill.