By D Whittle
Six second half tries secured the Bees tenth win of the season in a bitterly cold afternoon for Huddersfield.
In truth, Huddersfield were well in the game with just 20 minutes left at Lockwood Park, but with proceedings coming to a close and conditions getting worse, the visitors made the best of nature’s harsh weather and of Huddersfield being down to 14 men.
But the result still leaves Huddersfield a chance to get off bottom spot with seven games remaining.
With the conditions looking bleak, a sense of foreboding may have begun for Field, when Jack Jolly put the Bees ahead with an early penalty, as the visitors started well.
However the scores were soon level as Luke Booth neutralised the Bees earlier score. Field then did well for the rest of the half to contain the Bees to few real opportunities, despite their early dominance in ball retention. Scrum-half Jolly also missed a penalty to put his side back in front.
It seemed as though Alex O’Malley posed the biggest threat for the visitors, with a couple runs at the Field defence which were weathered well. Most notably Laurence Sanderson came to terms with the Bees winger, throwing him into touch, on more than one occasion. For all their hard work, it was referee Gareth Holsgrove that gave the Birmingham the lead. The official had spotted an infringement from a scrum deep within Field territory, awarding a penalty try, to give the visitors a reward for their persistence, which was converted by Jolly.
But Huddersfield reached the interval trailing by one breach of discipline, in a solid 40 minutes of resolute defending, as Jolly once again missed a chance to increase his sides lead with another penalty.
However the second half began with Jolly finding his feet and his range, as he converted an early Birmingham penalty, making up for his previous misses.
But Birmingham would have to wait another 15 minutes of the second half, before they really got another chance to breach the Field defence.
When it rains, it pours and the weather at Lockwood Park was getting no better. But after solidly keeping out the Midlanders for an hour, a tired Field defence which saw Booth removed through injury, were unable to prevent the flood that was about to happen.
Full-back Oscar Heath found a hole in the Huddersfield defence and with the ball on the 20-metre line, he drove through to score in front of the Viaduct.
One soon led to two as the visitors piled on the pressure. Just two minutes later, the Bees swarmed again. After a handling error by Huddersfield in midfield, the ball fell to Lee Chapman, who broke away with Daniel Barratt, despite being momentarily held up, the ball eventually found Darren Forder, whose try extended the lead to 24, as Jolly kicked the extras on both occasions.
