Keighley 5, Cleckheaton 17

Keighley’s fixture secretary Alden Phillips was manning the club video at the end of the stand as per usual in yesterday's SSE North One East clash and there were a few clipboards in evidence in various parts of the Rose Cottage ground.

But there were no fancy computer graphics on a big screen.

If there had been, however, they would probably have shown that Keighley had 85 per cent of the possession in the second half in a game that was watched by former British Lion Jason Robinson.

Keighley hooker Will Armitage was adamant that he scored two tries then, while Cleckheaton prop Andy Piper was equally certain that he had bagged one in the first half.

Nevertheless, none were given by Yorkshire RFU referee Dean Walker and the upshot was that Keighley, despite all that territorial dominance, lost 17-5 and were relegated back to SSE Yorkshire Division One after just a year at level six.

“We didn’t deserve to go down,” said Keighley flanker Scott Dyson, who missed the derby with a shoulder injury.

“We lost eight matches by seven points or less, and two of them came with the last kick of the game - Malton & Norton down here and Northern away.

“We had 15 players out injured at one stage but it is true that we could have been fitter,as our director of rugby Graeme Sheffield said.”

Cleckheaton’s coach Dave Harrison, who is stepping down next week after four years at the helm, said: “Keighley are a good side and we are surprised where they are in the table but our aggression and line speed in defence won us the match.

“I am happy with where I am leaving the club. We are bucking the trend in many ways as we regularly turn out four teams and have 30 players at training.

“We have Naz Salama and Steve Worsley, who are both 34, but the average age of our side is only 25 and we have fielded two 17-year-olds in the first team this season in Josh White and Jack Seddon.

“This club can certainly go on to the next level (National League Three North) and, although Bob Hood has asked me to be involved with Yorkshire, I will still come and watch Cleckheaton next season as I have a lot of friends down there.”

Keighley, needing to win both their remaining matches and hope for the best elsewhere, started well and deserved their try after seven minutes, a deft grubber kick by Harry Titley being pounced on by left winger Sam Walker.

Visiting fly half Iain Gordon responded with a simple penalty three minutes later, and they took the lead in the 24th minute, despite having No 8 and skipper Richard Piper in the sin-bin for punching, when Matt Piper brust through the centre and found full back Ross Hayden on his shoulder.

Gordon’s conversion made it 10-5 as they boosted their slim hopes of getting into the play-off, and, despite mountains of pressure in a sometimes fractious derby, Keighley could not score in the second half.

The inevitable happened when Cleckheaton eventually broke out in the 77th minute, second row Ryan Piercy getting the try and Gordon converting to deny battling Keighley even a bonus point.

The home side also lost two of their better players - fly half Alex Brown and centre Ben Blackwell - to hamstring injuries.