KEIGHLEY lost 32-17 at Selby on Saturday, and were left counting the cost of more than just a defeat which left them stuck in the Yorkshire One relegation zone.

They lost influential centre Sean Kelly through illness on the morning of the match, and that was compounded by several injuries during the game.

John Gibson, Rich Tillotson, Adam Horsfall, Will Armitage, George Marshall and Lucas Uren all came a cropper, leaving head coach Dan McGee sweating on availability ahead of this Saturday’s home clash with league leaders Old Brodleians (3pm).

Despite playing against a strong downfield wind and conceding an early three-pointer, a driving maul and a quick transfer of the ball gave Keighley left wing Chris Stead a chance, but he held on too long, resulting in a Selby penalty.

The relieving kick saw Selby camped in the visitors’ 22 and a knock on led to a home scrum, from which the ball was worked along the line for right winger Matthew Leetham to score. Josh Cruise added the touchline conversion for a 10-0 lead.

After coming under pressure from the scrum, a break by Keighley’s Luke Carter was followed up by Will McLaughlin and a yellow card for a home prop gave the visitors a foothold in the Selby half.

That resulted in a penalty kick under the posts, which Grayson Tihema gratefully accepted to reduce the arrears.

From the restart, Stead made a good run out from his own line but a dropped pass in midfield allowed the hosts to pick up for left wing James Robinson to go over.

Cruise added another two points for a 17-3 lead and in the move, Matty Langstaff was given a yellow card to further hamper the Keighley cause.

Selby ill-discipline kept giving opportunities to the visitors but missed touch kicks against the wind kept giving the initiative back to the hosts.

Neither side could make another breakthrough in the final10 minutes before the interval, with the half ending with scrums on the Keighley line.

With the wind at their backs, there was hope of Keighley reducing the deficit, but a 50m break by a home forward led to a penalty chance for Cruise, which he put over to extend Selby’s lead to 20-3.

Straight from the restart, Selby missed touch, allowing prop Craig Spencer to feed co-captain Shaun Minikin, who went on a 30-metre run to force his way over. Tihema’s conversion made it 20-10.

Tihema was then able to clear from a dangerous position, but Selby rampaged back and eventually broke through when heavyweight Sam Broughton scored. The conversion was missed by Cruise.

Following a penalty kick towards touch by Tihema, the visitors were able to gain the ball from the ensuing scrum.

This allowed Tihema to feed Alan Ebbrell, who found Martin Reeds in support for the flanker to score his maiden first XV try. Tihema added the conversion to make it 25-17.

With the wind now abating, Selby were able to spend more time in the visitors’ half and eventually, deep into injury time, the hosts scored their bonus point try through Danny Wilkinson.

Cruise converted that to leave the final score at 32-17 to his side.