KEIGHLEY FALL SHORT IN LOCAL DERBY GAME

Keighley 11 Bradford Salem 16

A hard fought local derby with Salem on balance deserving their victory. The game started at a cracking pace, the forward battle was intense with no quarter asked for or given. Keighley survived an early onslaught and moved into opposition territory using their big centres to drive up field, the result was a penalty for Alex Brown. The early score stirred Keighley into life, continued pressure gave them good field position and possession. However, it was a similar story to previous weeks, all the good work was undone by poor execution of basic skills, inaccurate line out work and poor ball retention at the breakdown, the only reward was another penalty for Alex Brown. Eventually Salem with the three-quarter duo of Booth and Robinson controlling the runners in midfield gained a foothold in the host’s territory and a penalty for fullback Danny Belcher.

The second half continued in the same vein, an arm wrestle in the middle of the field, neither side able to gain any sort of dominance of possession or territory. With the forwards more or less cancelling each other out, it was the backs who would probably decide the outcome of the game. Salem with a strong defence contained everything that Keighley had to offer. Poor kicking gave Salem’s prominent full back Danny Belcher the opportunity to run out of defence, which allowed his centres to link up and run some good lines of attack which caused Keighley problems. Eventually the of forays into host territory forced leading to two penalties which Belcher gratefully converted. Towards the end of the game Salem forcing the pace gained a foothold in Keighley territory, their consistently good line out provided possession which was driven foreword by their eager pack, a couple of drives took them to the try line, quick ball combined with a poor defensive set up behind the ruck gave scrum half Matt Booth a gap and a well taken try. Keighley sensing that the game was slipping away from them upped their game, the forwards with Dan Snowden to the fore forced their way downfield, quick hands along the line gave winger Joe Copperwaite the opportunity to score in the corner. Although Keighley had the best of the remaining minutes of the game they were unable to string enough phases together to put Salem under any meaningful pressure and had to be content with a losing bonus point.