Scarborough 10 Keighley 13

The initial stages saw Keighley playing with confidence. However, league results have shown that Scarborough are capable of scoring lots of tries, and when they got the ball the reasons for this were immediately apparent, after absorbing early pressure Scarborough moved the ball wide at every opportunity pressurising the Keighley defence to the full.

Eventually Keighley moved play back into the opposition twenty two, a break by Leigh Sugden found winger Harry Titley in support and a try under the posts, converted by Alex Brown. Scarborough’s response was to keep Keighley pinned in their half, under pressure Keighley were guilty of holding on at the breakdown and an easy three points for outside half Tom Harrison.

Scarborough playing with extra confidence mounted waves of attacks through their speedy backs. Keighley when they had possession made good ground but some promising attacks fell apart through poor handling. Scarborough gained the lead with the try of the match, centre Tom Ratcliffe took the ball at pace in the centre of the field, feigning to go left he switched directions and ran through a bemused defence to score under the posts, converted by Harrison. Keighley stung into action responded with some fine driving play from the forwards, prompted by busy scrum half Lucas Uren. Just before the half time whistle centre Danny Price broke through only to be brought down just short of the line.

In the second half Keighley with wing forward Scott Dyson in fine form reverted to a more direct approach with the forwards attacking the breakdown with more vigour, as a result the backs had more space in which to work. Both wingers, Walker and Titley made some strong runs only to be tackled into touch with the line beckoning.

Although Keighley were slowly gaining the ascendancy up front, Scarborough always looked dangerous when they had possession wide out, some fine tackling from Danny McGee and Adam Horsfall in particular steadied the defence. With time running out Keighley applied pressure through the forwards, at a breakdown Scarborough in an attempt to slow the release of the ball were penalised. Alex Brown levelled the score with a well taken penalty.

With both teams chasing victory the pressure mounted, although there was a great deal of endeavour there was also lots of mistakes from both teams. With five minutes remaining the Keighley forwards drove play deep into the opposition twenty two, at the ensuing ruck once again a Scarborough forward was caught with his hands on the ball which resulted in a simple penalty for Alex Brown. Although Scarborough pressured to the end they were unable to breach a tight Keighley defence. A fine away result for Keighley, however they were not on form.

This week they face a difficult home game against local rivals North Ribblesdale. Kick off is at 2.15pm