Drighlington 44 Keighley 6

Having beaten two Premier Division sides in previous rounds, Keighley went to Drighlington last Saturday with high hopes of reaching the final of the Pennine President’s Cup.

However, despite playing with plenty of spirit in both attack and defence, they turned out second best to a well-drilled home side who played sound rugby league throughout.

Drig were ten points in front in as many minutes after just two forays into Keighley’s 20-metre area and two more converted tries made the half-time score 22- 0 to the hosts.

The second half was pretty much a repeat of the first, with the Premier outfit scoring four more tries and converting three of them for a points tally of 44.

Keighley, however, did manage a deserved try after 65 minutes when good movement towards the right flank enabled Shaun Metcalfe to set winger Kris Gott in the clear 30 metres out.

His speed allowed him to beat the covering defence to the corner. Callum Hudson converted with a good kick from wide out but that was to be Keighley’s only score of the afternoon.

Although well beaten in the end, Keighley did have some moments to savour and there were good performances from Jack Copperwaite, Chris Dooling, Rick Barr and Danny Barrett.

Keighley travel to Emley Moor on Saturday (2.30pm) in the league.