Keighley Albion 4, Thatto Heath 48 - Albion were boosted by last week's five-try scoring spreen as they welcomed unbeaten new boys Thatto Heath Crusaders to Crossflatts.

Albion were without the inspirational Jon Gwilliam for the game and gave a full debut to Andy Bowness.

Playing down the slope Albion kicked deep into the Crusaders 22 area but to their dismay the Crusaders kicked the ball back towards the Albion goal line and dithering in defence allowed the visitors centre Mark Hayton to nip in for a try. Wayne Jackman added the goal from wide out and Thatto Heath had a six point lead after 2 minutes.

Albion kicked off again but this time the chase was good and the visitors were kept pinned in their half. Martin Fryers and Craig Morphett tackling hard to take some of the sting out of the Crusaders attacking players.

But on 14 minutes the St Helens side put together a good passage of play that saw the ball go through six pairs of hands for winger Phil Glover go over unopposed. Wayne Jackman again converting. Minutes later Albion's defence was all at sea as the visitors opposite winger Mick Woods crossed out wide, this time there was no conversion.

Albion were struggling at this stage to contain the lively Thatto Heath attack and in the 22nd minute Simon Kelk and Andy Parker were introduced to put some more flair into the home attack. This was not to be as the Crusaders stand off Barry Ashall made a terrific break from just inside his own half, outstrip the cover, then put the Lancashire County scrum half Darren Mitchell through under the posts. Wayne Jackman easily converted to end the scoring for the half at 0-22.

Dean Brookes and Simon Kelk had worked hard to try and get Albion on the score sheet but the Crusaders open play had kept the Keighley side on the back foot throughout .

After the restart Albion attacked up the slope and only poor handling stopped them from making progress into the Crusaders 22 area. The home side were punished when the winger Mike Woods dived over on the last tackle. No conversion this time.

Following a good passage of play Rob Bailey chipped the ball through the defence for the speedy Ady Cooney to chase but the ball eluded his fingertips and bounced dead. Thatto Heath again hit Albion on the restart when some good open play saw winger Mike Woods get his hat-trick in the corner, no goal again.

Skipper Craig Morphett was again leading by example both in attack and defence with Martin Fryers not far behind. But the Lancashire side's attack was out of the top drawer and this lead to Mike Woods getting his fourth try of the game following a 40m run, Wayne Jackman making the conversion. Minutes later the tormentor-in-chief Barry Ashall's diagonal run took him in for a try, Wayne Jackman again converting to make the score 0-42.

However on 73 minutes Albion put together their best move of the game that saw Rob Bailey break the visitors defence before putting Ady Cooney on the charge for the line. The winger then out-ran the cover for a well taken try. The goal kick went wide but at least Albion were on the scoresheet.

In the dying minutes of the game the Crusaders scored another try via centre Anthony Marsh, Wayne Jackman converting to give them a 4-48 final score. It had been a bad day at the office for the Albion but the spectators had been treated to a very entertaining display of open rugby.

Albion were well served by their man of the match Martin Fryers, closely followed Craig Morphett.

Next week Albion are again at home to York Acorn in what should be a close encounter, k.o 2:30.