KEIGHLEY LOSE AT SCARBOROUGH

Scarborough 36 Keighley 21

A difficult day at the seaside for a disjointed Keighley side comprehensively outplayed by a rampant Scarborough. Keighley had very little possession in the first twenty minutes and were battered by waves of attack. Even when they got the ball the kicking out of defence was dire, gifting the host’s further opportunity to exert pressure. Eventually strong running against the grain by Scarborough’s powerful centres Parker and Ratcliffe forced Keighley to narrow their defence which gave winger Jonty Holloway space and an easy try in the corner. When Keighley managed to gain some territory their poorly functioning line out gave Scarborough even more opportunity, from a five metre scrum number eight Ben Martin took advantage to cross near the posts converted by outside half Tom Harrison. Keighley managed to contain further pressure; however, their own efforts were hampered by a distinct inability to hold onto the ball in contact and poor handling. Towards the end of the half winger Holloway added a further try.

At the restart Keighley looked more determined but were outdone when they again lost the ball in the opposition’s twenty two, a kick through and chase found no one at home and a gifted try for full back James Harris, Harrison added the extras. To add insult to injury winger Holloway finished off a basic back move to score his hat trick try converted by Harrison. Thirty one points down Keighley stirred themselves, with hard working wing forward Dan Snowden leading the way, and outside centre Rob Wilkinson fixing defenders they managed to put some phases together and give new player full back Jason Kaye the opportunity to score wide out, Alex Brown kicked the difficult conversion. The Keighley forwards with Snowden, Miniken and Baldwin making their presence felt managed to put Scarborough under pressure. Unfortunately their good work was undone when Scarborough’s veteran heavy weight prop Matty Jones sold an outrageous dummy in midfield before slipping the ball to James Harris who scored between the posts, converted by Harrison. Keighley with time running out finished strongly, Shaun Minikin drove play forward, the move was given impetus by Rob Baldwin allowing Minikin to finish the move with a well earned try wide out, Brown added the conversion. A quick thinking tap penalty by scrum half Jonny Clark and some good driving play allowed new boy second row James Fox the chance to drive over, converted by Brown. In many respects the final score flattered Keighley, they were too often outplayed in all phases of play, the forwards lacked cohesion and muscle. As a result the backs were always on the back foot and had little possession to play with and were simply over stretched. Plenty for the new coaching team to work on before the next game away to Selby.