BRADFORD on Avon head coach Dave George saluted his side's handling of Melksham's special day as the visitors wrapped up a 33-19 Dorset & Wilts One North victory at the weekend.

Melksham were playing their first match at their new multi-million pound Oakfields complex, but Bradford secured a bonus-point success to keep themselves in the battle for a top two finish in the division.

Bradford were 14-0 down early on, lost two players to yellow cards in the second half and had to deal with the late arrival of Andrew Twinney, but still came through to spoil their hosts' big day.

George said: "I was very happy with it. We've got a few boys back from injury but it was a big day for Melksham, with a big crowd and we came back into it well.''

Melksham fly-half Callum Hurn had the honours of scoring the first try at the new ground as he stepped past defenders and converted his own score, before doing likewise when centre Phil Stone crossed the whitewash.

Scrum-half Alex Burns started the Bradford comeback with a try, converted by Josh Felix and within a minute of the restart they were level as Twinney, who had only just arrived after being caught in traffic, touched down and Felix added the extras.

Full-back Fin Dewar then crossed for the first of his two tries, but Bradford lost skipper Tom Culshaw and Jack Rutland to yellow cards.

Managing the game well while down to 13, Dewar delivered a killer blow as he scored his second, this time converted, after Bradford had broken out.

Nick Suter and Callum Gillard both dived on the ball for Melksham's third score, but Burns added another converted score to wrap it up for the away side.

George added: "It's a bit like starting a new season and we're hoping we can push on and challenge for second place.''