Thornhill Trojans 42 Keighley 6

Keighley travelled to in-form Thornhill and pushed the home side all the way in the first half.

But a game of rugby lasts 80 minutes and the visitors need to learn this quickly if they want to stay in the top division.

It didn’t look good to start off with, however, Thornhill making easy yards straight from the kick-off and marching all the way to the Keighley line.

But for the visitors’ goal-line defence, the home side could have been on the scoreboard in their first set of six.

However, it was Keighley who scored first.

Thornhill gave them a helping hand downfield with some penalties and Keighley cashed in via good lead-up play from Jamie Donnelly.

He fed Gav Duffy, who was held up five metres short of the line but he got the ball back inside in the tackle to the supporting Donnelly, who crossed.

Trojans got back into the game but Keighley’s defence, which was their strong point last season, kept them at bay.

However, where sides last season got frustrated and, in some games, lost their way, the teams in this division just keep on coming.

Keighley gave the ball away when playing attacking football in the wrong areas of the field and this led to the home side crossing at the side of the posts to take a 6-4 lead.

But it took until the 30th min-ute for the next points to be scored, and they came from a holding-down penalty in favour of the visitors, which Callum Hudson converted.

Unfortunately for them, Keigh-ley spilled the kick-off, and later in the same set, the visitors’ blind-side defence just switched off, Thornhill ghosting in under the posts for the easiest of tries.

At 12-6 at half-time, it was anyone’s game. After the interval team-talk, coach Keith Dixon felt confident after what his side had said they needed to do.

But all the talk must have been forgotten as soon as it left the lips as Keighley pushed the self-destruct button again, playing rugby in their own 20-metre area and gifting the home side easy points.

It was pretty much one-way traffic in the second half, with the visitors doing so much tackling their energy levels were low and they found it hard to find a way through a strong home defence.

It has been a tough start for Keighley, who have played three of the top four, but they must learn from their mistakes.

They entertain fellow promoted side Bank Top Harriers at Rose Cottage on Saturday (2.30pm).