Albion Cats 3, Hindley Pumas 66

For the second week the match scoreline did not fully reflect how the Cats played.

Last week Keighley won comfortably without playing well, this week's defeat did not reflect the commitment shown by a team missing five regular first team players.

High flying Hindley arrived boasting three Great Britain internationals in their team, ably supported by a further six Lancashire County players. The quality of their squad was apparent within the first couple of minutes when a swift passing movement ended with Hindley scoring a try in the corner.

This set a pattern for the remainder of the match with Keighley completing their sets of six, but the strong running Hindley backs carried the ball deep into Cats' territory.

The Cats defence was hard to break down up the middle of the park, but fast flowing passes meant Hindley were able to create gaps out wide. Some great driving runs from Lisa Abson and Leanne Ludlam at last relieved the pressure and Keighley were awarded a penalty in front of the posts, duly converted by Laura Ackroyd.

At the start of the second half Cats had their best spell when sustained pressure almost brought tries for Leanne Bibby and player of the match Gemma Liddon. However, a drop goal from Laura Ackroyd was to be their only reward.

In the last quarter as the Cats tired Hindley ran in several tries to give the scoreline a flattering look, but Cats can take great heart from a committed team performance and great individual efforts from rookies Lisa Fisher and Saima Hussein.

This week Cats are at home to league leaders Birkenshaw.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.