There have been a few restructurings of the leagues over the years and Graeme Sheffield wouldn’t mind another one this summer.

The Keighley director of rugby is convinced his side, who were relegated back to Yorkshire One after one campaign at the higher level, would have held their own next season had they beaten the drop.

He said: “I hope there is a way for us to stay in North One East.

“I can assure you that we would be better next season were we to stay up but the top and bottom of it is that we weren’t good enough.

“They are a great set of lads and they tried their hearts out but it is like the US Masters golf play-off between Angel Cabrera and Adam Scott – the higher you get the finer the margins are.”

Keighley, who complete their league season on Saturday at fellow demoted club Durham City, lost eight matches by a converted try or less.

Conversely they won four matches by seven points or less but, after battering away at Cleckheaton’s line for virtually all of the second half in Saturday’s 17-5 home defeat, Sheffield summed things up succintly by saying: “We might batter sides but we have graft but no craft.

“However, Harry Titley has come on in leaps and bounds since he joined us from the Midlands and got the shock of his life in terms of the standard.

“Rob Wilkinson let no-one down with his display at scrum half on Saturday, where he has never played before, and we should also have Tom Lowther back next season.

“We had eight players unavailable or injured last weekend, but we will be losing Ollie Sugden to injury next season.

“However, fellow prop Paul Sinfield has promised me that he will play for us as long as I am around – we go back a long way!” Keighley flanker Scott Dyson, who missed last weekend’s derby with a shoulder injury, reckoned: “We didn’t deserve to go down.

“We lost eight matches by seven points or less, and two of them came with the last kick of the game – Malton & Norton down here and Northern away.

“We had 15 players out injured at one stage but it is true that we could have been fitter as Graeme Sheffield said.”

Cleckheaton’s coach Dave Harr-ison, who is stepping down next week after four years at the helm, said: “Keighley are a good side and we are surprised where they are in the table but our aggression and line speed in defence won us the match.”

Sheffield added: “We (the coaches) had a long meeting after the Cleck-heaton match and Tim Brunskill (forwards’ coach) decided he needed some time away from the game.

“Therefore Kevin Young is being promoted to joint head coach alongside Dave Lister and I will get more involved in the week-to-week selections.

“The players will be told about the club’s restucturing at a meeting tonight.

“The gym should be finished this summer and by then we will have planned our strategy for next season, although we haven’t decided when we will return for pre-season training.”