Keighley 32 York 7

What a difference a week makes. After a dire performance against Bridlington, Keighley were back on form to demolish a strong York team.

From the first whistle, Keighley powered into the visiting defence, knocking them out of their stride and putting them under intense pressure.

York were driven backwards in the scrum and what possession they got was hampered by Keighley’s back row.

Following a series of drives, a neat short ball from Alex Brown found Marco Ferrazzano in support and he crashed through the defence to put the hosts in front.

York’s attacking moves were broken up by some magnificent defence from Scott Dyson and the powerful centre pairing of Ferra-zzano and Adam Horsfall.

With good possession, outside half Brown was able to control the game, varying his play superbly.

He either put his backs into space, or used his eager forwards to take the ball up.

Some good forward drives led by the Sugden brothers, Leigh and Olly, forced York back into the danger zone.

Brown, who was at the centre of everything, drew the defence and gave Dyson the chance to use his strength and agility to break a covering tackle to reach out and score. Brown added the conversion.

Despite being under the cosh, York persevered with their expansive game-plan. A break out of defence by full back Jon Dawes and a simple pass gave winger Sam Arkle the opportunity to use his considerable pace, beating his opposite number with ease as he raced in for an excellent individual try, which Dawes converted With the half-time whistle fast approaching, Brown steadied the Keighley ship with a well-struck penalty.

Within minutes of the restart, Keighley extended their lead when York were caught offside following a Ferrazzano drive and Brown added three points.

A few minutes later some excellent line-out work from David Lister and a drive upfield gave Leigh Sugden a chance to pull in defenders and offload to hooker Will Armitage.

Making good ground, he passed to Brown, who gave an inch-perfect pass to hard-working second row Stuart Inman to cross the line and Brown converted.

Although York were winning decent possession, it was always in their own half. Forced to run the ball, they were unable to break free from the Keighley defensive stranglehold.

Excellent work by the home forwards once again forced play deep into York territory.

Olly Sugden, who was having his best game of the season, continually made ground. He broke free with one defender to beat but his pass out of the tackle went to ground, giving York the opportunity to scramble the ball clear.

With time running out, Brown executed a training ground move, his defence-splitting pass releasing winger Micky Phillips before the supporting Dyson crossed under the posts. Man of the match Brown converted as Keighley cruised to victory.

When Keighley are on form like this, they are as good as anyone in their league. They just need to do it consistently.