Wheatley Hills 24, Keighley 20 - In a close game, Doncaster side Wheatley Hills came away with the points and hoisted themselves into second place in Yorkshire League One. It was however, a game which could have gone either way and Keighley can count themselves unlucky that their considerable efforts were unrewarded.

A defensive lapse straight from the kick off presented a soft try to home centre Render, converted by full back Hanson, but Keighley were soon on level terms when, from their first attack, centre Kevin Young burst over, following a scrum 15 metres out, leaving Johnny Harrison a simple conversion.

Assisted by a strong wind, Keighley penned Wheatley Hills in their own half for long periods, but were unable to penetrate a keen defence and were always susceptible to the quick counter attacking of the home side, which profited from some careless ball retention by the visitors.

The Keighley pack dominated the scrummages without ever taming the strong running of the home No.8 Elliott or second row man Penno in the loose play, in-spite of the close attention of forwards Morgan Bailey and Rob Clarke, both of whom showed up well in attack.

Hanson and Harrison were each successful with penalty goal attempts as the game ebbed and flowed but with the prospect of facing the elements in the second half, Keighley desperately needed more points. They were rewarded with a spectacular try by full back Matthew Cox who broke from deep in his own half before scything through the defence with a combination of speed and skill and touching down under the posts, allowing Harrison to convert.

A lead of seven points was always likely to be difficult to defend as Keighley faced the wind in the second half, and two converted tries in the space of five minutes mid-way through the second period swung the game in Wheatley Hills' favour. Both were scored in similar circumstances by powerful centre Purnell, who used his strength in mid-field to crash through the Keighley defence following scrummages near to the Keighley line.

The visitors could, however, count themselves unlucky that the second try came from a five metre scum awarded controversially by referee John Clayton after the ball had been knocked over the dead ball line by a home player.

A penalty goal by Harrison kept Keighley in touch and with the minutes kicking away they launched a series of forward based attacks on the Wheatley Hills line. With the last move of the match, second row man Richard Leach was held inches short but was penalised for a double movement which enabled the home side to clear their line and snatch victory.

It had been a close call, but the side has rediscovered its passion which was lacking a few weeks ago. Stand off Johnny Harrison and full back Matthew Cox were the pick of the backs, and in an all round sound effort up front the major plaudits must go to hooker Dave Pullen and flanker Morgan Bailey.

Keighley 2nd XV 6

Wheatley Hills 2nd XV 7

Keighley second string again lost in the last few minutes when they should have had the game out of reach.

Young stand off Rob Wilkinson gave Keighley a six point lead with two early penalty goals. It was all Keighley but they were unable to cross the line to the satisfaction of the referee.

In one pile up over the line Martin Harrison was told he had not grounded the ball correctly.

Poor options were being taken by both backs and forwards and poor kicking was giving the ball away. Wheatley Hills didn't look like scoring, but Keighley became frustrated with their own play.

With the wind in their faces after the break Keighley needed to improve their tactics. Wilkinson was just wide with a penalty attempt and the backs, ably led by Phil Hannah, were trying to punch holes down the middle.

With time running out and most of the play being in the middle of the field Hannah took a quick tap penalty and broke through. With only the full back to beat he fed to Warren Knowles who gave the ball to Ryan Gill, but a cover tackle drove the young winger into touch.

The Wheatley Hill forwards started to just run the ball at the tiring Keighley forwards and the referee sin-binned Duncan Walsh for standing in the way of a quick tap penalty as the game became rather heated.

With only minutes left Wheatley Hills broke down the blind side and their right winger, built like a prop, knocked off three would-be tacklers to score under the posts. The conversion kick just scraped over.

Keighley went back on the attack and the last play was a penalty goal attempt by Wilkinson to win the game but the kick fell short.

A very disappointed Keighley side left the field with a jubilant Wheatley Hills side who knew they had not deserved to win.