LEODIENSIANS 3 Keighley 31

There were anxious faces in the Keighley camp as the second half of this intriguing game began.

In spite of Keighley's almost total domination of the first half they had no points on the board and the home sides' sole venture into Keighley territory had resulted in a penalty goal to stand off Dan Eddie.

Facing the wind and the slope, handicapped by the loss through injury of forwards Andy Bennett and Lee Gordon and with wingman Matthew Cox playing on with a nasty cut to the head, the prospects of maintaining the winning run looked to be in jeopardy.

Far too may scoring chances had gone begging as Keighley hammered away at the Leo's line without success. Whilst the home side defended bravely Keighley's problems were largely self induced with careless handling and wrong option taking proving to be expensive.

The domination continued into the second half, a strong run by Paul Salmon setting up a good attacking platform. They spurned the chance of an early penalty goal in favour of another forward onslaught, during which their injury problems were compounded when replacement forward John Duffy was forced to leave the fray with a knee injury. Centre Kevin Young was drafted into the re-arranged pack where he played with the same amount of aggression and courage which typified the efforts of the other forwards.

Leo's stubborn resistance was finally breached when Keighley's continued pressure led to full back Carl Smith forcing his way over from a rare three quarter move to edge them ahead. They were fortunate to survive a quick counter by Leo's which ended with wingman Dan Eagle spilling the ball at the line, but soon took play back downfield with a good run from defence by replacement Nigel Curr which lead to wingman Warren Knowles going close at the other end.

The home match programme generously acknowledged that Keighley had "the most potent pack in the division" and it more than lived up to its reputation as the game progressed. Time and again they drove powerfully at the opposition, gaining precious yardage and skilfully retaining and re-cycling the ball. The tactics were eventually justified when No.8 Peter Schofield was driven over from a maul close to the line and Johnny Harrison's conversion was the signal for Keighley to cut loose.

It was Harrison again who next stole the limelight when he carved out a gap in the defence with a clever dummy and tested out his ageing limbs with a 40-metre dash to the line before adding the conversion.

Keighley's confidence was now sky high. A good run by scrum half Scott Amos was halted close to the line and flanker Mark Lister, Keighley's best forward on the day, was prominent with some powerful work up front.

Any lingering hopes of a come back harboured by the home side were extinguished when Cox snapped up a loose ball and sprinted over from 50 metres with Harrison's conversion opening up an unassailable lead.

With both forwards and backs now revelling in the contest, Keighley added a final try when good rucked ball on the half way line and a break by Amos from Schofield's pick up led to a storming touchline run by Paul Salmon which brought him a try in the corner.

Keighley's self-belief had one again prevailed. Their victory came from a truly magnificent forward effort in which every man played his part. Alongside Lister's outstanding contribution there were telling displays from David Pullen, Andy Webb and the untiring Leigh Sugden, whilst the pick of the backs were Scott Amos and Matthew Cox.

Confidence will be high for Saturday's derby at Utley against Skipton (Kick Off 2.15pm) although the visitors big win last week against Northallerton means that there will be no complacency in the Keighley ranks.

Keighley 2nd XV 30

Leodensians 2nd XV 5

Keighley had been heavily beaten in their away match at Leeds, but with a much stonger them they were too fast and too strong in the return fixture.

The result was a foregone conclusion by half time.

Chris Watts scored the first, breaking from the scrum after setting up position with a 40-yard break.

Keighley missed the conversion but were back on the attack from the kick off with Adqam balderstone getting the final touch.

Tries were coming at regular intervals as Morgan bailey bustled his way over for the third and on the half hour excellent play by the forwards and backs saw Atkin held just short, but John Gibson was on his shoulder to complete the move.

Atkins collected his first conversion and added a penalty kick just before half time.

Leos scored after a series of penalties onthe try line and there were only minutes to go when Keighley scored again through winer Michael Moxley.