Keighley 16 Westgate Wolves 6

Keighley kept their place at the top of the table with a solid defensive display against a well-drilled West-gate side.

On a muddy pitch Wolves started brightly, playing expansive rugby and testing every area of Keighley’s defence. A good break saw the visitors close to the try line but a great tackle by Danny Spencer kept them out.

However, it was only for a short time. Prop Zach Johnstone was held up just short of the line after a good run but he managed to get his arms free and pass to hooker Ashley Anderson, who crossed for their only try of the game.

Johnstone added the conversion and it was nearly half-time before Keighley levelled the scores.

A set play saw Ricky Leatham put Joe Copper-waite through a gap to race for the line with only the full back to beat. With support on either side, he drew the full back and passed back inside to hooker Danny Barrett, who touched down and Copperwaite converted to make it 6-6 at the break.

Although this was a low-scoring game, it was end-to-end stuff, with Rob Spencer and Rick Barr orchestrating the attacks for Keighley.

The forwards on both sides put in a lot of work in both attack and defence, with Danny Lunn, Chris Price and Shaun Metcalfe making good yards for Keighley.

They managed to break the Wolves’ line after a good run by Owen Palmer saw him pulled down 20 metres from the whitewash. Westgate were judged to have ripped the ball out and Keighley were awarded a penalty but it went just wide of the posts. Leatham and Jamie Stephenson were a constant thorn for Westgate’s defence but it was Barr who was key in breaking the deadlock for Keighley.

His surging run put Colin Pickles through a gap and, with only the full back to beat, he passed inside to Metcalfe, who scored under the posts.

Danny Bowness added the conversion to give Keighley a slender lead at 12-6.

Westgate were in no way down and out, putting Keighley under pressure for much of the second half.

The match was only sealed in the last five minutes when the ever-present Barrett threw a dummy and raced through the gap before passing to Lunn who, just as he was being tackled on the try line, offloaded to Chris Stead and he raced in at the corner to finish off a good move.

The conversion was missed but Keighley had done enough.