Keighley Albion 20

New Easrwick 14

Albion stretched their run of league wins to four on the trot with a superb victory over the All Blacks.

After just three minutes Gary Isles stepped through Albion's defence to put the visitors ahead with an unconverted try.

The Keighley side fought back but were penalised twice in as many minutes for talking back to the referee. However Mark Adams suplied the pass for Neil Jordan to split the All Blacks' defence with a diagonal run to the line. Mark Adams added the extras.

Craig Morphett, Martin Fryers and Jon Gwilliam were at the heart of the home attacks. For the York side Richard Harrison and Jez Petch were making life difficult for Albion. Another penalty for offside saw Carl Pallister level the scores at 6-6 after 18 minutes.

It looked as if the game was going to be a low scoring affair but Albion had other ideas when Craig Morphett, Neil Jordan and Wayne Smith combined to put Tony Fretwell over in the corner.

Albion appeared to be taking control but another penalty for use of the elbow in a tackle allowed Carl Pallister to convert a penalty and close the gap again.

In the last minute of the half Craig Morphett chipped the ball into the York in-goal and Mark Adams pounced. Again the kick was off target but at the break Albion led 14-8.

Playing down the slope in the second half they were soon back on the attack but the greasy ball made play difficult and the Keighley side were often their own worst enemies. On 55 minutes they created an excellent chance to increase their lead but took the wrong option leaving everyone perplexed.

It was becoming a dour game but both sides tried to play open rugby in terrible conditions. Albion's Mark Adams was sent to the sin-bin for talking back to the referee.

At this time the All Blacks were trying to get back into the game through Gary and Jez Pallister who made the home defence work overtime. The breakthrough came on 71 minutes when Martin Fryers stormed over for a fine individual try under the posts. Sub Dean Brookes added the goal to put Albion 20-8 ahead.

This should have finished off the York side but in a good move Carl Pallister breached the defence for a converted try to round off the game at 20-14.

Albion dominated for long periods but indiscipline and the wrong options had made the scoreline not a true reflection of how they had played. To their credit the All Blacks had made them fight all the way to the final whistle with their man of the match Richard Harrison outstanding with Carl Pallister and Jez Petch not far behind.

Albion's Jon Gwilliam received his team's Man of the Match award, closely followed by Craig Morphett and Rob Haughey, who put in probably his best display of the season. Credit for persistence should also go to Danny Bowness who in his third match for the first team finally came off the bench for his National Conference debut.

Tomorrow Albion travel to Warrington to play Crosfields.