Bradford and Bingley U11s 0 Keighley U11s 19

Bradford and Bingley U11s 0 Keighley U11s 19
 
Taking to the field almost immediately after a draining first encounter, Keighley attacked from the whistle. Again they dominated possession and territory with the forwards holding strong. For some reason the back line seemed unnerved and could not find a way to move the ball wide. This was where the gaps had opened up and quicker ball would have seen a regular turnover of the scoreboard.
In increasingly muddy conditions Keighley began to play as a unit. Ball retention improved and the tackling from all was resolute. For the majority of the match the hosts were kept in their own half and were forced to kick out of defence.
Ryan Gibson led from the front as usual and skirting a handful of tackles he evaded the home defence to open the scoring, following it up with the conversion.
The backs began to see more of the ball, even though it was from broken play, and it flowed from wing to wing confusing the defence. Still, however, the score stayed low due to errors and the failure to capitalise until the last throes of the first half when Robert Paul broke free from the breakdown and stormed over the line.
As the second half began Bees fought back, forcing Keighley to defend themselves. The half developed into something of a stalemate with no real pattern developing and any coached moves thrown firmly out. A gratifying aspect was seeing the young team begin to work out plays for themselves, talk through their defensive roles and communicate at every level across the pitch.
Pressure built and built until the home side were camped upon their line. The resulting set piece saw a clearance charged down and Samuel Grant pounced on the loose ball to complete the scoring.
A tough day for the team, but a well earned victory saw them go home content and proud.