Keighley Albion u-13s 18 Brotherton Bulldogs u-13s 32

ALBION'S Achilles heel came back to hurt them as table-topping Brotherton took advantage of their usual sluggish start to accumulate a 32-0 lead.

Then Keighley dominated the last 15 minutes and looked like they might post one of the most remarkable comebacks but it was not to be.

With the plan to go uphill and hope to take on some of Brotherton’s giant forwards down the slope in the second half, Albion could not have started any worse by conceding penalties and then a score after defending four back-to-back sets.

Some inept defence from the restart saw the visitors' second row break through, which was followed up by a good try out wide.

Albion did fire a shot when some slick handling gave Billy Lee the chance to show his explosive pace but as he was held up short, the hosts inexcusably knocked on with a clear overlap on the next play.

Brotherton led 20-0 and some more weak defence saw them put the game to bed with two further tries, sandwiching Ben McParland’s sin-binning.

Albion opened their account when the impressive Riley Corby burst through the visitors rearguard from his own ten-metre line, which allowed McParland the opportunity to play in Lee close to the posts to score, with Josh Dickerson, who also impressed, converting.

Albion scored immediately after when, after getting to within touching distance, Caleb McConville’s kick rebounded off the post and Lee dabbed down, with Dickerson again adding the extras.

The purple patch continued with a fine team try seeing play spread to the left and Corby’s fizzed path gave Lee the chance to canter down the wing to complete his hat-trick, Dickerson also securing his treble with the boot.

It could have been even better, with McParland and Reece Smollen now displaying their skills in the halves. McParland’s superb pass hit Tyler Moyles running a great angle but he was held up just short.

The visitors nominated Corby as the stand-out player, with Lee and McParland given the other nominations.

Albion know they cannot afford any more slow starts when they play in their relegation crunch match against King Cross next up, with victory likely to earn them another year playing Division Two rugby.