Keighley lose again at the seaside

Scarborough 27 - Keighley RUFC 15

An uncharacteristically lacklustre performance led to defeat on the East Coast. The home side was quickly out of the blocks and it was a full fifteen minutes before the visitors made any meaningful progress into the opposition’s territory.

In the meantime Scarborough notched up a 14 points lead. Firstly bulky Kiwi prop Matty Jones forced his way over following some half-hearted Keighley defending and then stand-off Tom Harrison won the chase to touch down his own kick through. Both scores were converted by Harrison.

Slowly Keighley crept into the game, taking play to the Scarborough line before conceding a penalty which allowed the home side to clear the threat.

Although under pressure in the scrums Keighley continued to menace and harass the Scarborough defence and after 30 minutes play Leigh Sugden bulldozed his way over the line following a scrum 5 metres out with Alex Brown adding the extra points.

With their forwards unable to establish a solid platform Keighley’s backs suffered a slow and often erratic supply of ball despite the commendable efforts of half backs Lucas Uren and Brown.

Fortunately Scarborough’s three quarters were unable to exploit their regular supply of possession largely due to over use of the boot and a generally tenacious Keighley defence.

A largely forgettable first half ended with Keighley wasting a good opportunity close to the line by spilling the ball.

Scarborough soon increased their lead in the second half when prop Nino Cutino secured the touch down following a powerful drive from a 5 metre line out, but Keighley remained in contention when Brown landed a well struck penalty goal.

Soon afterwards Harrison landed a similar effort for Scarborough but again Keighley struck back when hooker Shaun Minikin was on hand to dive over following a 15 metre maul to the line.

With time running out Keighley were still in with a chance of a draw or even an unlikely victory, but it was the hosts who held the final ace. A rare fluent crossfield move was finished off by centre Tom Ratcliffe to complete the scoring and secure a bonus point for his side.

Saturday’s home fixture is against a Selby side under threat of relegation, but an improved performance by Keighley is essential.

To accommodate the England-Scotland game on the television kick off has been brought forward to 2 p.m.