Yorkshire Two: Keighley 24 Knottingley 10

AFTER a first half which Keighley skipper Will Armitage described as “shocking” from the home team, his side pulled themselves together after the break to earn a bonus-point victory which hauled them three places up the table to seventh.

The opening 40 minutes was also marked by the rarity of a man being sent off for each side in the same incident.

There was a melee on the stand side of the pitch at the clubhouse end, which referee Richard Arthur (Central Yorkshire Society) first described as “handbags”.

However, things became more serious when Knottingley centre Louis Gates felled home prop David Smith, earning him a red card. Keighley centre Adam Horsfall then ran 30 yards to thump Gates and also received his marching orders.

Armitage said: “There were some strange decisions by the referee but we lost our tempo after the sendings off.

“We were shocking in the first half and went into a lull after the incident but we were much better in the second half. There was no doubt in my mind that we would get that fourth try and the bonus point.

“As for the rest of the season, we can finish in the top of the bottom half of the table.”

Three precise kicks by Keighley full back Alex Brown pinned Knottingley in their 22 early doors and the hosts were rewarded in the sixth minute when flanker Elliot Barker scored his third try in as many matches, seconds after lock Leigh Sugden had been denied.

Referee Arthur talked to both captains following the melee but before the double dismissal, fifth-placed Knottingley, who had only two of their regular front five playing, levelled the scores in the 31st minute.

The try came following a scrum in front of the Keighley posts, the visitors moving the ball left for winger James Jenkins to score.

On an afternoon when the cold wind began to bite, Keighley No 8 Josh Hannah made a break down the left wing late in the first half, only for his pass to winger Luke Carter to be batted away.

The home side seemed to be more switched on in the second half and scored from a planned close-in line-out move in the 46th minute.

Armitage threw it to prop Craig Spencer at the front, who, with Armitage outside him, dummied twice before plunging over the line as Knottingley were caught unawares.

Spencer was also involved in the third try 16 minutes later, a sleight of hand pass putting lock Mathew Hagyard over for a try which Brown converted.

Although right winger Nick Beach’s try in the 67th minute pulled the score back to 17-10 and gave Knottingley renewed hope, Keighley’s pack snuffed out any thoughts of a comeback.

Firstly, they were bafflingly penalised when in charge of a driving maul, and then, after Knottingley hooker Jonathon Clark was sin-binned for kicking, home flanker Shaun Minikin plunged over for their fourth try in the 77th minute, Brown adding a superb conversion.