Drighlington 36 Keighley 4

Keighley travelled to Drighlington for the last away game of their debut Pennine League Premier Division season with only 13 men due to work commitments but showed plenty of spirit in a losing cause.

Rob Spencer kicked off as Keighley elected to play down the hill on their hosts’ small pitch and his high punt was perfectly placed, resulting in the Drig full back knocking on.

Keighley pressed from the drop-out but could not force a gap – and this seemed to be the tale of the first half until 30 minutes in when the home side scored a converted try from short range.

The visitors then lost two players due to injuries but even with 11 men they forced the ball out to Aaron Nicholson to dive over in the corner, although Alfie Seeley missed the conversion.

Keighley were buoyed by the interval scoreline but knew that playing short-handed would be an uphill struggle.

Drig started the second half well and scored with their first set of tackles. Yet Keighley were still playing well, with their makeshift pack drilling holes in the opposition defence.

Finally the lack of players began to tell and only last-ditch tackles from Danny Spencer, Jamie Stephenson and man of the match Danny Lunn denied Drig.

Keighley held out for another ten minutes but then Drig scored three quick converted tries and added another with the last move of the match.

The performance was deservedly applauded by the Drig side, who never looked in control of the game even with their numerical advantage.

Keighley’s last match of a challenging season is at home to Queens this weekend.