Keighley Albion 4
Hunslet Warriors 22
Missed chances and tantalising errors cost Albion a chance of victory in their top-v-bottom clash with Conference new boys Hunslet Warriors.
Although the Keighley side is wallowing at the bottom of the table and Warriors are joint leaders, the game was far closer than the one-sided score line suggests.
Jon Gwilliam was fearsome in attack for Albion with Craig Morphet and Steve Wrench pushing him closely for the man of the match award, but Albion have still to discover the knack of creating their own luck.
After taking the lead with Chris Hogg finishing off a move started by Kris Kirk followed by a clever kick from Mark Kellett, things just would not go their way.
After a 30 metre break from Darren Littlewood put Warriors level, two silly Albion penalties gave them the advantage they needed to follow up with a converted try from Scott Gilmour. Their slender six-point lead at half time gave the Keighley side hope of turning things in their favour.
Gwilliam and Kirk battered away at the solid Warriors defence, but a speculative kick by Dean Creaser was the turning point in a tight contest. The normally reliable Chris Hogg spilled the ball under the posts and Frank lapping pounced with Dean Creaser adding his second conversion to stretch the lead to 16-4.
The introduction of Simon Marsden seemed to add an extra element to Albion and he made a 20 metre break. A Danny Horne bomb put Marsden to within a metre of the Warriors line, but they dropped the ball on the last tackle.
Darren Ballentyne scythed through the heat of Albion's defence as heads dropped with Creaser again adding the conversion to add the Albion's woes.
Tomorrow Albion travel to Cumbria to take on Millom with a 2.30 kick off.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article