Keighley gain their 8th win of season over newcomers Harrogate Pythons

Counties One Yorkshire: Keighley 39 Harrogate Pythons 5
by Bill Marshall (T & A)
ON a day when only four other matches were played in Yorkshire, including one on the artificial pitch at Yarnbury, Keighley took advantage of their Rugby 365 surface to put pressure on top two Wetherby, who they host next week, and West Leeds.
However, this Counties One Yorkshire victory was not as straightforward as the scoreline suggests as the result was very much in the balance at half-time, with Harrogate Pythons only trailing 8-5.
Tom Whyte’s try and an Alex Brown penalty had given the men from Rose Cottage that slender advantage, but the second half was a different story as they added five more tries against the second-from-bottom visitors – from Jack Atkinson, Allan Ebbrell, Whyte again, Ollie Snowden and a wonderful individual effort from replacement Sam Blakeley.
Brown (two conversions) and Atkinson (one) completed the tally in a 31-0 second-half blitz to put Keighley level with West Leeds on 39 points, with Wetherby on 41, with Keighley albeit having played a game more.
“It is over four years since anyone has beaten us on this pitch, so it seems to be working well,” said fly half Brown of their artificial grass.
“But Pythons came out keen, were very aggressive and where they are in the league does not reflect how they played here at all.
“I was very impressed by them, and we had to put in a good second-half performance to pull away as it was a fair scoreline at half-time and they came out of the blocks well in the first half.
“If they play like that there is no way that they will be in the bottom two come the end of the season. They are a good team, but opponents have got the better of them in the second halfs for whatever reason.
“We had to stick to our structures in the second half, look after the ball a bit more, get back to basics.
“We knew that if we kept the ball a bit more and put the phases together that we would break them down and we ended up with a bonus-point win, which is all that you can do.
“Also, we scored some nice tries and the back three were brilliant, plus Sam Blakeley and Luke Currie off the bench.”
On a day when the temperatures were struggling to get above nought degrees, Pythons, who have had back-to-back promotions, made a positive start.
However, they went behind in the 14th minute with a try by No 8 Whyte, just after centre Alfie Seeley had almost created something on the right for Ebbrell.
Put on a team warning by referee Andy Williamson (North Yorkshire Society) for high tackles, Keighley then saw the opposition reduced to 14 men when lock Peter Millward was yellow carded for a tip tackle.
While he was off the field, Keighley had an Ebbrell try ruled out for a foot in touch and, while centre Adam Horsfall was limited in mobility but stayed on, Currie replaced the injured Declan Hampson.
After almost scoring on the right, Pythons did get over on the left in the 31st minute when an offload by centre Hugh Tatlow put full back Max Sharp over.
The parity only remained for three minutes, however, as, after a second melee, Keighley were awarded a penalty in front of the posts, which Brown slotted over.
Although Keighley were a different side in attack in the second half, Pythons were a different side in defence, missing too many tackles in their 20 as the home side ran riot.
Atkinson, whose strong running was a feature of the match, scored in the 42nd minute, and two minutes later Ebbrell was over after good work from Horsfall and flanker Max Wild after more slipshod Pythons defence.
Brown converted the latter try to make it 20-5, and the bonus-point try came in the 59th minute from skipper Whyte after good work from lock Jordan Yaxley.
The conversion from Brown was again true, and three minutes after that flanker Ollie Snowden went over.
Blakeley was disappointed with a pass that he received in the 67th minute so decided to take passes out of the equation three minutes after that on a weaving 50-metre diagonal run that ended with him stretching out to plonk the ball down over the line.
Atkinson kicked the conversion, with Brown again favouring his hamstring.
Yaxley then threatened something with a burst down the middle, but referee Williamson sensibly opted to play only two minutes’ injury time on a cold afternoon, having played none in the first half.
As for next Saturday, Brown said: “We always enjoy playing Wetherby and we always have some good battles with them. It will be an interesting one and it will be a case of whoever executes their game-plan the best will win, and I hope that that will be us.”
Injury-wise, Keighley are hoping that hooker Hampson (ankle) and Horsfall (calf) will be fit, while they could also have Jake Parkinson, Craig Spencer and Andy Heys back in the mix.