Keighley 11 Selby 3 A much improved performance by Keighley eased them into fourth place in the league and, such is the closeness of the competition, moved them out of the relegation zone and into outside contention for a promotion play-off place.

The re-vamped pack paved the way to victory, with former Bradford & Bingley second row man Richard Holdgate having a sound debut. Flankers Morgan Bailey and Lee Gordon injected pace and aggression which has often been lacking this season, although both incurred the displeasure of referee Neil Gaskell and were sin binned for persistently killing the ball at rucks, at one time reducing Keighley to thirteen men.

Even then they defended tenaciously, denying Selby any real sniff of the line. The visitor's main threats were posed by their hard running No.8 Wright Phillips and second row man Jason Cicero, both of whom several times broke free, but their backs on the other hand generally lacked the penetration and pace to trouble Keighley's keen tacklers.

Keighley's half backs Scott Amos and Johnny Harrison played an assured role throughout, with Amos in particular constantly on the alert. His dummy and sparkling break from the half way line almost brought him a try before he was tackled into touch five metres out, and Richard Cavender, standing in at full back for the unavailable Matthew Cox, did little wrong. There was also a promising debut for replacement centre Tim Marlow, another recruit from Bradford & Bingley.

Keighley had to wait thirty minutes for their first points, notwithstanding an energetic opening, when Harrison landed a well struck 35 metre penalty goal, but this was soon nullified by a similar effort by Selby stand off Toby Pemberton after Keighley's midfield players strayed off side in front of their posts.

The Utley men regained their lead shortly before half time when a long miss-pass by Harrison found prop Paul Sinfield lurking out wide and his deft pass to the supporting Bailey allowed the flanker to battle his way over for a well taken try.

Defences prevailed throughout the second half, Keighley's fluency being disrupted by careless handling and by the double sin binning of Bailey and Gordon, but they seldom looked likely to concede a try, without themselves creating many scoring chances. It was left to Harrison to cement victory with his second penalty goal.

Saturday sees the side fulfilling a long outstanding Yorkshire Shield first round tie at Pocklington. Matthew Cox returns on the wing with Richard Cavender retaining the full back berth. Andy Bennett is at No.8 after a long lay off with a back injury.