Baildon 2nds 10 - 34 Keighley Academy

Keighley Academy travelled to local rivals Baildon 2nds , looking to add to last weeks character building victory over Cleckheaton. Like last week Keighley played the first half up the slope with the wind at their faces against a very vocally confident Baildon second string.
But from the start it was Keighley who started the more dominant team especially in the forwards who made good yards with a strong rolling maul , this early momentum lead to Keighley's first try on 7 minutes after quick hands released Dave Pullen to scoot in at the corner. A superb touchline conversion from Jordan Powell gave Keighley a 0-7 lead.
Andrew Marklew, relishing his new role with the Academy created problems within the Baildon defence all afternoon , and it was one of his angled chip kicks to his left on 18 minutes which found the Academy's leading try scorer Micky Phillips to race over near the posts. Man of the match Jordan Powell was again successful with the boot to extend Keighley's lead to 0-14. A Powell penalty on 25 minutes further extended the Keighley lead 0-17 to the visitors.
On 33 minutes Keighley scored the best team try of the season so far , starting with a Marklew break, going through the hands of Neil Jordan, Steve Welch and Jordan Powell who made good yards before slipping the ball to Nathan Berry who finished the move scoring at the side of the posts. With the successful conversion this took the half time score to 0-24.
The 2nd half started with both teams aiming for the first score , with possession changing hands on a number of occasions. Against the run of play Baildon , on 55 minutes opened their account with a short range try wide out. Any chance of a Baildon fightback were quickly nullified on 60 minutes by the ever alert Marklew who scored from the base of a close range ruck , with the conversion unsuccessful this took the score to 5-29. A Danny Baines sin-binning for being offside meant Keighley were down to 14 men, but that didn't stop the momentum and on 70 minutes Nathan Berry took advantage of more good teamwork to go in at the corner for his second of the afternoon. A missed conversion took the score to 5-34.
With the clock ticking down Baildon managed to snatch a last gasp consolation try in the corner , an unsuccessful kick made the final score 10-34.
So many positives from this game , the first 40 was easily the most dominant team display of the season so far. With Marklew , Needham and Neil Jordan supplying a great platform and a steadying influence and giving the youngsters their opportunities to shine. Again a big shout out to Joe Emmott, Kaleb Shaw, Marcus Jordan and Jordan Powell for stepping up to the plate . A very satisfying victory , Well Done