Keighley 48 Northallerton 13 - Keighley completed their league fixtures with a comprehensive victory over Northallerton. It was, however, the visitors who provided the early shocks when, assisted by Manchester referee Andrew Daniels erratic interpretation of the laws of the game, they rushed into an early 10-point lead.

A penalty goal for offside stand off James Bingley opened the scoring and this was quickly followed by a try by skipper and No.8 Steve Robinson who picked up and drove over from a scrum 10 metres out, with Bingley converting.

With Keighley having secured promotion and Northallerton destined for relegation, this was clearly not the start the Utley men had anticipated. The visitors tackled and harassed bravely and with Mr Daniels anxious to claim the star role, Keighley initially struggled to find any fluency in the face of a series of penalty and free kick awards.

A try by centre John Hinchcliffe, converted by Johnny Harrison, after a break by scrum half Scott Amos, eventually set Keighley on their way and from then onwards they were rarely troubled by the opposition. A break by full back Carl Smith led to a try by wingman Kevin Young, again converted by Harrison who also struck the crossbar with penalty goal attempts as Keighley's superior strength and skills began to tell. Nonetheless, Northallerton were only 4 points adrift at halftime, although the writing was clearly on the wall.

Good work by centres Adam Balderstone and John Hinchcliffe created a second try for Kevin Young early in the second half, although a penalty goal by Bingley kept Northallerton's hopes alive. By this time, however, Keighley's stronger and better drilled pack was beginning to take control with hooker David Pullen taking several scrummage balls on the visitors put in. A neat pass by Matthew Cox brought a try for Scott Amos, followed by a brilliant solo run to the posts from the half way line by John Hinchcliffe, with Harrison adding the extra points.

The sad departure to hospital for Carl Smith with a dislocated and fractured hip briefly disrupted Keighley's dominance. His strong and positive running from full back, combined with his solid defence has been a key factor in the sides success and he will be greatly missed in the run down to the end of the season.

The re-arranged side continued to impress, however, with forwards and backs demonstrating fitness and pace which Northallerton were unable to match. Even the Iraqi Minster of Defence would have been hard pressed to find words of encouragement for them as Keighley pressed home their advantage.

With Johnny Harrison again in the sin bin, Keighley still opened up the tiring defence almost at will. Clever work by No.8 Peter Schofield made a try for Matthew Cox which he also converted and Cox and Schofield again combined well to put Amos over for his second try.

On the stroke of time, another sweeping raid by the backs ended with Cox's second try to complete Keighley's eight try haul. Once more the foundation of the success was a solid all round performance, with the personal accolades going to forwards Andy Bennett and David Pullen and backs Carl Smith and John Hinchcliffe.