Match Report by Tony Burns
After back to back defeats against Beverley and North Ribblesdale, a trip to high flying Pocklington was never going to be an easy day, especially with a number of key players absent.
Within a minute Keighley were awarded a penalty, but from the resulting lineout they lost possession, the first of many times during the game. Pocklington made good use of the ball, feeding the left wing who chipped through for his scrum half to score after only 3 minutes, converted for a 7 point lead.
From the restart Keighley soon had possession and were awarded a further penalty 35 meters out but the kick from fly half Fin Meegan, standing in for regular 10 Alex Brown fell well short of the posts. Within a minute Keighley had a further penalty for offside, but the penalty from the 22 metre line hit the upright and was cleared by the hosts.
Keighley enjoyed plenty of possession but struggled to breach the hosts excellent defence. The scrum was evenly matched with Keighley competing well against their bigger and heavier opposition, but Pocklington’s last line of defence held strong, helped by a couple of handling errors from the visitors.
Ben Stead took over kicking duties from Meegan and gained good ground from a couple of penalties but the next 20 minutes remained a stalemate despite Keighley having the majority of possession and territorial advantage.
On 20 minutes, a Keighley scrum on the half way line secured the ball but the pass to fly half Meegan was knocked on, allowing the hosts to take possession and press deep into Keighley territory. A penalty to the 5mtr line gave Pocklington a strong attacking platform and they drove over for their 2nd converted try and a 14 point lead against the run of play.
Keighley now raised their game and excellent interplay between forwards and backs again took the ball deep into their hosts half. An excellent backs move looked to have put them in for a try in the right corner but the final pass from captain Alfie Seeley was fractionally behind his winger Stead and the ball went into touch. However the lineout from Pocklington was knocked back into touch and despite an overthrow from hooker Minikin, Keighley secured scrappy ball from their own lineout before a superb back row move took the ball to winger Sam Blakely who scored an excellent try in the right corner on 30 minutes, the conversion just missing.
Play now moved into Keighley territory for the next 5 minutes and a penalty gave Pocklington a 5 metre line out. Despite securing their ball they were penalized close to the Keighley line for not releasing and Keighley cleared their lines. Keighley now moved play back into the hosts half with some excellent and enterprising backs play and a penalty took the ball to the Pocklington 10 metre line. A fine backs move again took the ball deep into Pocklington territory where they were penalized for dangerous play resulting in their outside centre being yellow carded. Following Steads kick to the 5 metre line Keighley secured their own lineout and after a couple of powerful forward drives a superb short pass from Sean Kelly found Taylor Prell who powered through the Pocklington defence to score under the posts, converted by Stead.
In the final play of the half, Pocklington looked to have scored in the left hand corner but were adjudged to have been tackled into touch
Half time Pocklington 14 Keighley 12
The second half was a battle of attrition. Pocklington’s big forwards led by No 8 Andy Argo Bennett and Prop Matti Downes put a great deal of pressure on the visitors, however outstanding defence and some excellent counter attacking rugby kept them at bay.
On 45 minutes Steads penalty which would have given Keighley the lead was fractionally wide and within a minute Pocklington had a penalty of their own after a high tackle by Kelly which saw him sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes. Their kick to the 5 mtr line and subsequent throw in was secured but they were penalized for obstruction again allowing Keighley to clear to the 10 mtr line. Yet again Keighley failed to take possession from their own throw in resulting in further pressure from their hosts.
Playing with a penalty advantage Pocklington executed a fine back row move resulting in a try in the right hand corner, superbly converted from the touchline for a 21 to 12 lead.
Keighley’s restart failed to travel 10 meters and from the resulting scrum Pocklington gained a penalty. They chose to go for three points from the half way line but the kick drifted to the left of the posts.