Yorkshire Division One: Hullensians 23 Keighley 16

KEIGHLEY, with a depleted pack due to injuries, made a brisk start, putting the hosts under pressure.

An offside decision gave Hullensians the first score, with outside half Clayton McCloud landing a penalty.

But, returning to the attack, Keighley forced a penalty of their own which Alex Brown converted.

With the game flowing from end to end, kickers Brown and McCloud added another two penalties apiece to level the scoring at 9-9.

Keighley, realising where their strengths lay, used their strong centres to maximum effect, with Adam Horsfall and Ben Blackwell making serious inroads into a packed defence.

The strategy paid off, with the defenders forced to hold their ground in midfield which created space on the outside.

A fine arcing run by Blackwell stretched the home defence, giving debutant winger Alfie Seeley the chance to use his pace to cross in the corner, with Brown adding the difficult conversion.

However, Keighley, without a regular hooker, had difficulty finding their jumpers at line-outs, which resulted in a serious loss of possession in key areas of the field.

But being forced to move the ball around suited them, and they put together some excellent passages of play. Unfortunately, a long pass in midfield went to ground, allowing Hullensians' replacement back Tony Smith the chance to hack the ball on to score a try that was converted by McCloud.

Turning round at 16-16, Keighley continued with their open style of play, while Hullensians, with a strong scrum and dominant line-out, used their big forwards to make ground, especially blind-side flanker Jordan Knapp, who continually embarrassed the Keighley back row with some strong runs from the back of scrums.

Keighley, on halfway, had a gilt-edged scoring opportunity when centre Blackwell intercepted and broke free but, with one tackler to beat, he was unable to link with his supporting runner, allowing the hosts the opportunity to clear their lines.

Hullensians, once again through direct play, turned the screw but were unable to break down a resolute defence.

However, the stalemate was broken when a poor error in defence turned an opportunist kick through into a try for scrum half Andy Krebs, with McCloud once again adding the conversion.

Keighley battled to the end but were forced to settle for a losing bonus point.

This week Keighley will hopefully have more fit players to choose from for their difficult derby at North Ribblesdale.