ANOTHER defeat by a narrow margin saw Selby RUFC slip to eighth place in Yorkshire League.

Indiscipline and poor tackling were responsible for the 23-20 home defeat at the hands of Bradford Salem.

With Shaun Austerfield failing to show up, Selby brought in Martin Protheroe and soon found themselves trailing to a Matt Booth penalty.

Dan Porter and Booth then traded penalties but Selby were gradually getting on top and took the lead after 27 minutes when a quick tap penalty saw the ball spread wide to winger Richard Topping who touched down near the corner. Porter's conversion gave the Sandhill Lane side a 10-6 lead which Porter increased with another penalty after the interval.

The matched turned in the 65th minute when referee Stewart Franks awarded a penalty to Selby on the five-metre line. However, he reversed the decision in favour of Salem after spotting an off-the-ball incident in which Selby flanker Matthew Mills was yellow carded for stamping.

Three minutes later another penalty to Salem - plus an extra ten metres for talking back - put Selby under severe pressure.

Although they defended stoically they finally cracked six minutes from time when Salem centre Paul Gleadhill went over and Booth kicked the extras to level the scores at 13-13.

Despite the return of Mills, a Booth penalty put the visitors ahead and the match slipped away when Selby centre Andy Gabel committed a professional foul on the Selby five-metre line. He spoke out of turn to the ref and was sin-binned.

From the penalty Salem recycled the ball to their backs and Gleadhill went under the posts for a seven-point try.

In the fifth minute of added-on time Salem looked certain to score again, but the final pass went astray and Selby counter-attacked with Topping going over for Porter to add the conversion.

But it was too little, too late, for Selby, who have now lost three league games on the bounce.

Updated: 09:46 Monday, November 14, 2005