Keighley 21, Bradford & Bingley 10

The seasons may come and go and the players change but there was something very familiar about today’s derby between Keighley and Bradford & Bingley.

It didn’t matter that the inaugural Peter Harrison Memorial Trophy was at stake instead of league points.

The first brawl came after 23 minutes and that turned a club match into a full-blooded encounter for much of the remaining 69 minutes of action.

Unfortunately, some of the foul play can best be described as cheap shots, but it all led up to a passion on and off the field that was seen by a season’s-best crowd of 550 at Rose Cottage.

It wasn’t the easiest match to referee but Nigel Dickinson got through it without showing a red or a yellow card in a festive display of goodwill by the North Yorkshire official.

Certainly Keighley’s director of rugby Graeme Sheffield was much happier afterwards than his Bradford & Bingley counterpart Martin Whitcombe, who deserves praise for organising both this match and next Saturday’s Granville Clark Memorial Trophy match between the Bees and Otley at Wagon Lane.

Sheffield said: “We got much more out of the game than we hoped for.

“The young lads who came in did really, really well considering we had ten first-team players unavailable and a lot of second-choice men absent.

“Winger Jake Hill, who is 19 and has been playing for the second and third teams, did well, as did 17-year-old colt Joe Fulford.”

With No 8 Leigh Sugden and flanker Scott Dyson taking the lead in the pack, veteran Dave Pullen enjoyed his one-off comeback against Nathan Thornton, his one-time rival for the hooking berth at Utley.

Whitcombe did not enjoy his watching brief so much, saying: “We didn’t get out of it what we wanted but Keighley deserved to win.

“We need to learn lessons from this defeat as the derby atmosphere will be very similar at places like Morley and Sandal.

"Dan Jeffrey did well for us at scrum half and got the nod for our man of the match, and Joe Burton also shone.”

Fly half Alex Brown put Keighley ahead with a tenth-minute penalty and converted Sam Walker’s try after the winger’s kick ahead was spilled by Bees full back Tom Kanouros.

Bees captain Steve Brimacombe – Peter Harrison’s nephew – charged down Brown’s clearance to score a try but the fly half added two penalties before Hill’s neat try clinched matters in the 71st minute.

Prop Tom Coates got a late five-pointer for the Bees after good work by Tom Cokell.