Keighley Albion u14s 24 West Bowling A u14s 8

KEIGHLEY Albion Under-14s got their league campaign up and running with their first win against familiar foes West Bowling A.

With both sides having a number of players unavailable, the visitors got off to a bad start when Archie Halmshaw went off with what turned out to be a fractured leg.

Albion got into their stride, with the structure from the ruck working well.

This was complimented by some strong running, particularly from Laurie Akroyd, who made good inroads.

While camped by the line, the ball was dropped off inside to Matt Tindale who bustled his way over from close range, with Josh Dickerson converting.

After a promising start, Albion dropped their level and some unforced errors saw Bowling eventually force their way over right on half-time.

Albion, while not at their most fluent, were completing sets, which was tiring the visitors out.

However it took a speculator from Tindale off a scrum on his own 30-metre line to fend off would be tacklers before outpacing the cover, with Dickerson once again adding the extras.

Bowling did not give in though and some porous defence allowed their impressive centre to skirt down the sideline to bring the score back to a try difference.

Albion effectively sealed victory though when Tindale completed his hat-trick, again evading and powering through before showing top speed to score under the sticks. Dickerson made no mistake with the conversion.

There was still time for Billy Lee to add some gloss to the scoreline, when he finally got some space before stumbling when clear and then regaining his composure before dotting down. Dickerson converted for a 100 per cent record from the tee.

Albion were indebted to strong performances from Akroyd and Riley Corby in defence and attack, with Tindale and Lee providing the punch close to the line.

Albion are in Challenge Cup action next week, with Division One big guns Batley Boys visiting Crossflatts in what is sure to be a real test of Albion's season credentials.