Keighley 13 Morpeth 25

At every scrum Keighley were put under pressure which slowed down their possession and made it difficult for the threequarters to operate on the front foot. Even with this handicap they started the game well, testing out the defence at every opportunity with some good probing runs from winger Jake Hill and the new centre pairing of Harry Titley and Ben Blackwell.

Morpeth working their way into the game found it difficult to break down a resilient Keighley defence. Changing tactic they chose to kick deep into Keighley territory, where a number of fumbles or poor return kicks gave them good possession. Eventually the deadlock was broken when Morpeth scrum half Henry Cunningham broke around the edge of a poorly defended ruck to score. Keighley quickly replied with a penalty from Alex Brown.

Morpeth continued with their aerial bombardment which forced Keighley to either play the ball out of defence or kick. A loose kick out of defence and a poor first up tackle gave Morpeth’s full back L. Francis the space he needed, darting through the entire Keighley pack to score a fine individual try, centre J. Phillips added the conversion.

As half time approached a disjointed Keighley struggled to contain the dominant Morpeth forwards, the pressure eventually told when Cunningham scored his second typical scrum half try, once again darting around the edge of a ruck.

In the second half the Keighley forwards with the coaching team’s words ringing in their ears raised their game. They pressured Morpeth at every breakdown and generally made life very difficult in midfield. With the pack causing the defence difficulties the backs were at last provided with some decent possession. The teams efforts were rewarded when full back Rob Wilkinson joined the line and crossed in the corner. Although Morpeth forced their way into Keighley territory they were unable to get close to the line. However, some defensive indiscretions gave them two penalties which Phillips gratefully converted.

Keighley in the ascendancy gave it their all, Scott Dyson and Leigh Sugden continually drove the ball forward, but Keighley were always chasing the game and as a result lacked a degree of composure, causing a number of opportunities to slip away through rushed handling and poor offloads. Nearing the final whistle Keighley’s centre Harry Titley gave the scoreline some respectability when he latched onto a long pass to sprint over in the corner.

This Saturday Keighley are on the road again with an away trip to Pocklington.