You have to feel sorry for Keith Dyas, secretary of the Yorkshire Cup, Shield and Silver Trophy
competitions.
Everything bar the traditional club matches take precedence over
county cup ties these days, and that means that Silver Trophy and Shield ties that should have been played before Christmas are only being played now thanks to national knockout matches and re-arranged league games.
Keighley's first-round Shield trip to Pocklington tomorrow - it should have been played in November - falls into that category, and I
sometimes wonder how Dyas keeps his sanity.
The visitors, who are up to fourth in Yorkshire Division One, retain former Bees player Tim Marlow at centre after he came on last week at home to Selby.
Matthew Cox, unavailable last week, returns on the wing, leaving Richard Cavender at full back, and Adam Balderstone is preferred to Scott Amos at scrum half.
Michael Feather reverts to the
second row for the unavailable Richard Holdgate, and there is a welcome return at No 8 for Andy Bennett.
Baildon, handed a walkover by Leeds Corinthians, are at home to Barnsley in the third round of the Yorkshire Silver Trophy.
Wharfedale are without Keighley old boy Dave Lister at Manchester in National League Two. Lister's knee injury has failed to respond sufficiently to treatment, so Oliver Renton steps up.
Scrum half John Newton and flanker Alistair Allen get starts at the expense of Sam Cottrell and Ben Wade, who wait on the bench.
Rob Baldwin moves to No 8, and skipper Andy Baggett makes a
welcome return, with his healed thumb, at centre.
Meanwhile, full back Jonathan Davies will make his 200th league appearance for the Greens, joining fellow double centurians John Lawn and Hedley Verity in the side - Lister would have made four had be been playing.
Bradford and Bingley will be without Stuart Dixon for the rest of the season as he will need an operation on his troublesome
hamstring. Rob Padgett will get his chance in the centre at bottom-club Bedford Athletic in Dixon's absence.
Bees coach Geoff Wappett describes playing against Athletic as being like "facing a drowning man". He added: "They are fighting for their National League Three lives and have been playing quite well. Logic suggests we should win, but they could cause us some problems. However, if our defence is solid enough then we should have too much in attack."
Baildon (home to Barnsley) from: D Hemming, C Smithies, C Fife, N Oddy, D Wilde, N Lister, R Kingham, M Withers, J Dawson, J Wood, A Rockett, P Lowth, D Helstrip, A Pollard, D Christie, D Pearson, N Murphy, P Wilson, E Baildon.
Bradford & Bingley (at Bedford Athletic): B Greaves; J Simpson, R Tafa, R Padgett, J Nau; T Rhodes, M Rhodes; R Kelly, P Scott, R Brits, B Volschenk, B Clark, I Judson, K Yates, L Makaafa. Replacements: R Raper, L Treco, R Hughes, M Dracup.
Cleckheaton (at Fylde): O Akroyd; J Bentley, N Murray, M Billington, J Marshall; M Sales, S Benton; C Mason, S Worsley, J Lamptey, C Rika, O Hawkins, M Terry, J Dudley, G Jones. Replacements: P Turner, R Wilson, C Quinn, M Doherty.
Keighley (at Pocklington): R Cavender; J Tillotson, T Marlow, N Curr, M Cox; J Harrison, A Balderstone; R Riley, D Pullen, P Sinfield, L Sugden, M Feather, M Bailey, A Bennett, L Gordon. Replacements: P Schofield, T McArthur, R Leach, S Amos.
Wharfedale (at Manchester): J Davies; A Lovatt, C Malherbe, A Baggett, S Horsfall; C Meehan, J Newton; C Ingram, J Lawn, N Dickinson, O Renton, A Capstick, A Allen, R Baldwin, H Verity. Replacements: P Peel, A Peel, B Wade, S Cottrell.
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