National Conference Division One promotion hopefuls Eccles pressed the self destruct button and crashed to a 15-6 defeat at the hands of West Bowling at Bankfoot CC.

Glenn Barraclough's boys fully deserved the double against a Manchester outfit that conceded numerous penalties as they tried to intimidate the opposition instead of playing rugby.

Bowling opened the scoring when impressive player coach Barraclough charged down the short side, found supporting centre Lee Innes on the inside, and the international spun out of three would-be tacklers to plant the ball over the line. Innes added the conversion and stand off Shaun Fallon coolly dropped a goal for a 7-0 lead.

On the half-hour visiting second row forward Neil McPherson tried to take Barraclough out of the game with his elbow and was sent off. Innes kicked the resulting penalty but the bad temper continued when Bowling second row forward Simon Owen and his opposite number Paul Viller were sent to the sin bin after an altercation.

Scrum half Steve Illingworth became the second home player to be yellow carded when he was caught holding down in the tackle.

Innes gratefully accepted another penalty for ball stealing but Eccles came back into the game following the introduction of ex St Helens scrum half John McAtee. He brought loose forward Paul Smith on an angled run to the posts for a converted try but they soon returned to their old ways giving Innes a further penalty.

McAtee was put in the sin bin for 'talking' to the referee and it was fitting that the deadly boot of Innes should have the final say when Eccles were guilty of a head high tackle.

Keighley Albion travelled to Castleford Panthers looking to build upon last week's win in order to keep up with the fourth placed team buit inmstead crashed 26-6 in Division Two.

The home side were straight on the attack but Albion's scrambling defence kept them out. When Albion had the ball they couldn't keep hold of it and a dropped pass put the Panthers back in the driving seat.

From the scrum they got the ball wide through former Cougar Jamie Benn and Dave Willey in a move that saw winger Paul Harper go in for a try in the corner, Benn converting.

Albion were struggling to complete the sets of sixes as the Panthers starved them of possession and in the tenth minute Albion were penalised for ball-stealing. Benn kicked the goal.

Jon Gwilliam, Ian Spencer and Martin Fryers worked hard to get their attack into the game but poor ball control again let them down as Panthers centre Pete Thornton went 50 metres to score a try wide out. Benn added the touchline conversion.

From a poor drop-out under the posts, Panthers prop Philip Peel went in for a try, Benn converting to make it 20-0.

Albion fought back and a good attacking spell saw Wayne Smith grab the ball and dive over by the posts. Andy Bowness added the conversion. Three more Benn penalties completed the scoring.