Keighley 12 Hunslet Old Boys 20

Keighley suffered their first defeat of the year at home to Pennine League Premier Division third-placed club Hunslet Old Boys as Chris Price suffered a broken ankle.

Having started 2014 with a draw and a win, the hosts had high hopes of success and they started the game well.

After ten minutes coach Keith Dixon shouted a move on the last tackle and Joe Copperwaite obliged by sending out an outrageous dummy.

With four players taking it, he waltzed in under the posts and also converted the goal.

Keighley then relaxed and let Hunslet in for two quick tries.

The first was after a cross-field kick for the centre to go over out wide and the second came following a length-of-the-field move, with the same centre outpacing the covering defence.

Keighley matched the Yorkshire Cup holders in every department but, just before half-time, their winger broke and scored in the corner.

The hosts had one more set of tackles and, with the last play of the first half, Copperwaite sent a raking cross-field kick for rampaging winger Tony Kennedy to collect and slide over. Copperwaite converted and it was game on.

In the second half, Keighley were playing up the slope and held Hunslet out for 20 minutes, with Brett Campbell and Shaun Metcalfe to the fore.

That was before Old Boys’ large prop crashed over the line, knocking Jamie Stevenson and Alek-sander Pala out of the way for a converted try.

Keighley kicked off and Hunslet knocked on at the first tackle.

After the scrum Price drove the ball in and, unfortunately, his studs got caught it the heavy ground.

It resulted in him badly breaking and dislocating an ankle.

After a short delay for Price to be helped into an ambulance, Keighley were unfortunate not to score from a repeated set on Hunslet’s line.

The visitors responded by attacking at the other end but Keighley kept them at bay, Chris Dooling putting in a massive stint in defence.

Dixon’s side held out to the final whistle to deny Hunslet any more points but the damage had been done in the first half.

The commitment of his players, in both attack and defence, was commendable.

Keighley, who slipped a place to seventh after West Bowling beat Bank Top, host Thornhill Trojans at Rose Cottage on Saturday.