Keighley 0 York 17 - The die was cast early on for Keighley when they leaked 17 points in as many minutes straight from the kick off. There was every indication that the 40 points drubbing at York in November would be repeated.

The heavy York pack pushed the lighter Keighley eight around with frightening ease, allowing No.8 Ian Davies to bag the first try after 5 minutes play when he picked up from an attacking 5 metre scrum and using his considerable bulk, forced his way over with stand off Carl Patterson converting.

Keighley rallied briefly with a spirited run by centre Matt Gaffney before more solid work by the York forwards combined with the prodigious and accurate best of the league's leading points scorer Patterson, drove play back to the Keighley line. Again the scrum was put under pressure and scrum half Graham Smith was quickly on hand to touch down a loose ball amidst confusion over the Keighley line.

The one-way traffic continued as the home side was denied possession, but it was unlucky to fall further behind when flying wingman Rob Kama profited from an apparent forward pass to outpace the defenders for the third try.

The formidable size of replacement prop Paul Sinfield went some way towards creating parity upfront and gradually Keighley's game improved. Gaffney who had his best game of the season, and was the pick of the home backs, continued to test the York defence with some determined running and wingman John Currie showed some neat touches. Solid forward play took Keighley almost to the York line where Sinfield was held just short, before an interception led to a break out by York which brought the best out of the Keighley defence. The visitor's forwards were however, tiring visibly and Keighley finished the first half on top, but without realistically having threatened to reduce the arrears.

The pattern was repeated for most of a hard fought second half. Whilst the Keighley pack often struggled in the scrums, Michael Feather impressed at the lineouts. Flanker Lee Gordon and Leigh Sugden and props Sinfield and Evan Griffin increasingly took play to the opposition, but the York defence was sound and in spite of several close calls, Keighley were unable to grab the try which could well have sparked a change of fortunes.

The defeat leaves Keighley only 3 places from the bottom on the table, although only 2 points separate them as the next 4 sides in a very competitive league. There was much to commend their performance. 18 year old Liam Mcgee, standing in at full back for Matthew Cox, whose knee ligament injury will keep him out for several weeks, gave a mature and poised display throughout, and it was good to see skipper Tim Marlow back in action after a knee problem which has side lined him since September. Wingman John Currie and Nigel Curr were robust in attack and defence and with the pack nearing full strength for the first time this season, Keighley's fortunes must surely improve.