BRADFORD'S dreams of promotion were shattered in the dying minutes on Saturday when South African centre Guthrie Holliday sprinted from the half-way line to steal victory for Calne.

With five minutes remaining the scores were deadlocked when Bradford tried to run the ball from inside their own half and Holliday intercepted a loose pass and ran unchallenged to score beneath the posts.

The defeat means Bradford can finish no higher than third in the Dorset and Wilts One North table, while Calne remain favourites to take the second promotion place, just two points behind leaders Supermarine with two games still to play.

Dejected Bradford coach Dave George conceded that luck had finally run out for his team after another nailbiting league contest.

He said: "We have scored a try in the dying stages for the last couple of weeks now so the shoe was on the other foot on Saturday.

"It was a strange sort of feeling after the game. The lads were gutted because we came to realise that we had lost the game of our own accord."

Bradford prop Alex Bird broke his ankle in giving his side a 5-0 lead when he dived over from a rolling maul. As Aiden Blowers kicked the extras, Bird was helped from the field and George was forced to reshuffle his pack.

Calne hit back with two unconverted tries from Alan Wicks and Damon Murphy to lead 10-7, before Blowers levelled the game with a well-struck penalty.

Holliday sealed the vital win for Calne with his ruthless break from halfway.

Calne coach Andy Donegan said he was delighted with the win that leaves his side just one win away from promotion.

He said: "It was not the most attractive game and the referee was not the best, but we fought hard for the win. Once Guthrie caught the ball on half-way nobody was going to catch him.

"It's been a great year for us and hopefully it will end with promotion in a couple of weeks."

A reflective George concluded afterwards that missing out on promotion could turn out to be a blessing in disguise for Bradford.

He explained: "It might do us some good to stay in this league for another season. That way we can try to win promotion as champions next year.

"I'm going to concentrate more on coaching from now on. I'm sure I will have my arm twisted to play again next season but I'm not sure how much more the body can take."