KEIGHLEY may only be sixth in the SSE Yorkshire Division Two table – but they do top one chart.

They have now kept four clean sheets this season, which is two more than any other club in the section.

The Rose Cottage Club defeated Sheffield Medicals 29-0 at Utley, won the reverse fixture 17-0 last Saturday and have also nilled Leeds Medics & Dentists away 28-0 and Leodiensian at home 31-0.

“I would rather us be top of the table proper but it is still a great feat to have four clean sheets,” said Keighley’s director of rugby Graeme Sheffield.

“Defence is obviously something that we practice but it is not something that we obsess over.

“However, our line speed is the thing, starting with Adam Horsfall and Danny McGee in the centres, followed by the back row, and we come up in a straight line, rather than a staggered one.”

Sheffield added: “It is doing Sheffield Medicals a bit of a disservice that we have two clean sheets against them as they are a good side, but the set-piece is massive in Yorkshire Division Two. We dominated the scrums and the line-outs against them on Saturday, but particularly the scrums.

“We got one penalty try and could have got three more tries from pushovers.”

It was therefore a pity that Keighley could not manage that fourth try and collect a bonus point but Sheffield said: “We aren’t going to be too hard on them as they have won seven of their last eight matches!”

Keighley have a big test of their improvement on Saturday when they host West Leeds, and Sheffield said: “We need to get an edge in the pack against some old heads, otherwise they have some talented young backs that will do some damage.”

Keighley (home to West Leeds) from: W Armitage, Jack Atkinson, E Barker, S Booker, A Brown, L Carter, A Ebbrell, L Everett, M Hagyard, J Hannah, A Horsfall, T Lowther, S Minikin, D McGee, D Needham, D Smith, C Spencer, L Sugden, R Wilkinson.