Batley Bulldogs 23 Halifax 16: Reittie red card proves to be costly for Halifax

Reittie, one of five players who followed coach Karl Harrison to the Shay from Batley last autumn, was red carded midway through the second half after blatantly head-butting his former team-mate Gareth Moore in full view of a touch judge.

At that stage, Fax led 16-14 – after an early try from Sean Penkywicz – having trailed 12-6 after a frenetic first half during which both sides made more mistakes than they would have liked.

The Bulldogs had led 12-6 at half-time thanks to tries from Alex Bretherton and Alex Walmsley, and Moore kept them in touch with two penalties early in the second half.

With the old ground’s famous slope in favour of the visitors, tries from Lee Paterson and Dane Manning had finally given Harrison’s side a semblance of hard-earned control against a charged-up Bulldogs line-up.

Whether Reittie’s temper definitively cost Fax the win will never be known, but it did change the momentum of this game in an instant; Batley gained fresh impetus, Fax lost their way.

Moore then edged Batley back in front with a drop-goal before a late, late try by Ben Black, the hero of Fax’s 2009 Grand Final win and a player unwanted by Harrison, was poetic, but only confirmed the already inevitable.

Batley: Preece, Potts, Walton, Maun, Brown, Black, Moore, Smith, Lythe, Green, Bretherton, Grehan, Applegarth. Substitutes: Palfrey, Hirst, Walmsley, Lindsey.

Halifax: Fieldhouse, Reittie, Tyrer, Paterson, Worrincy, Handforth, Thackery, Gannon, Penkywicz, Ambler, Divorty, Robinson, Ashall. Substitutes: Casey, Manning, S. Barlow, Aizue.

Referee: G Stokes (RFL)