West Bowling A u-12s 18 Keighley Albion u-12s 10

DESPITE the closeness of the scoreline and the tenacious effort of the entire Albion squad, 12-man West Bowling were worthy winners of this top three clash in Yorkshire Division Two.

The hosts scored on the first set when, after stretching the play, a fortuitous bounce from a last tackle kick put them in front.

Despite Albion’s completion rate being good, West Bowling’s sets were of a higher quality and they dominated the ruck in both attack and defence. It was no surprise when they moved the ball wide to score.

Just prior to the break Albion were disappointed to concede in the manner they did, with Bowling’s skilful prop charging over almost unchallenged.

Keighley came out with a greater purpose in the second half but were reliant on one-off plays as Bowling’s defence swamped them.

A moment of magic did arrive through Billy Lee, who took a tap penalty in his own half before smashing through would-be tacklers and sprinting clear to dot down, giving Caleb McConville the chance to convert and halve the deficit.

Albion, now with their tails up, were coming hard down the hill and McConville, the opposition’s player of the game, slalomed his way through on the last tackle but could not add the conversion. Keighley should have gone on to win with a numerical advantage but Bowling still had control of the tackle speed and this resulted in penalties giving them a territorial advantage.

The pressure finally told with Bowling scoring a carbon copy of their third try with their prop adding his second.

Albion have the chance to get revenge with the return fixture taking place next week but they will have to significantly improve to compete against one of the division's best sides.