Pudsey 17, Keighley Albion 17 (Albion through on away rule)

ONE hundred and twenty minutes could not separate these two teams, extra time still could not produce an outright winner so Albion went into the third round draw as the away team.

The Yorkshire League Senior Division outfit are unbeaten at home this season using their extremely narrow school pitch to their advantage whilst restricting their oppositions opportunities to play expansive rugby. Nonetheless the large crowd were treated to a pulsating contest with the lead swopping hands on several occasions.

It was Pudsey who drew first blood with a converted try after 20 minutes. Albion replied with a Simon Kelk penalty, the game was then stopped for 20 minutes when one of the home side went down awkwardly in the tackle and suffered a serious leg injury.

On the restart Albion looked to have composed themselves better and were rewarded when scrum half Paul Moses sent hard working Prop forward Ian Spencer over in the corner to level the scores at the break.

Three minutes into the second half Moses dropped a field goal to give Albion the lead, but this was short-lived as Pudsey went over from close range to go back in front. The former Cougar half back partnership of Moses and man of the match Keith Dixon worked tirelessly to prise open the gaps which were few and far between.

Rob Haughey latched on to a Moses pass to take back the lead, Kelk adding the conversion. With ten minutes remaining Albion worked a neat move from the base of the scrum with loose forward Johnny Williams picking up the ball and feeding Paul Moses on the blind side, the veteran half back showing great strength as he forced his way over to put Albion seven points in front with ten minutes remaining. The game was far from over as the home side applied the pressure and added a further converted try to make it 16-17, with only two minutes remaining Pudsey levelled it with a well taken drop goal to take the game into extra time.

The next twenty minutes saw both defences working overtime, Dixon foiled several Pudsey drop goal attempts with his quick thinking defence, try as Albion did they could not cross the home line again butthey had done enough to earn a place in the third round.

Gary Moorby said: "This was one of the most intensive games we have played all season, a typical cup tie. In these games you have to be prepared to dig in and scrap it out which is something we have not done in the past. We looked to have the game in the bag when we went seven points up but they came back, but in the end we did enough to go into the third round."

Roose Pioneers 48

Silsden Park Rangers 0

Despite the heavy scorline, Rangers fought hard all the way against fast and powerful Roose, and earned the respect of the Barrow outfit.

Although failing to score, Silsden caused the home defence plenty of problems. Strong running Pat Illingworth went close to a first half try following a break from halfway, and in the second period Mark Claydon was hauled down just short after a great burst direct from the scrum. Shortly afterwards veteran half back Geoff Bowness almost got the touch to a nicely weighted Mark Adams grubber.

Adams was comfortably Silsden's best player, leading by example and employing a clever kicking game. He was ably supported by back row colleagues Dave Webster and Neil Jordan, While Jim Coldwell, Dave Arnold and Bob Harrison again formed an impressive front row. Youngster Danny Sharpe made a promising full debut on the wing.

Silsden should benefit from the lessons learned in this game when they entertain West Bowling A tomorrow (Saturday), although they may have fitness doubts over winger Alan Preston (foot injury) and Illingworth (bruised knuckles). Kick off 2.00 pm

Keighley Celtic 2

Staningley 36

Celtic put in a highly creditable performance against recent White Rose Troiphy Winners Staningley.

It certainly looked like being a difficult task and Celtic struggled in the first 10 minutes to adjust to the pace and conceded three quick tries. Their only encouragement was the opening score, a third minute penalty from Neil Kennedy which proved to be their only points of the afternoon.

Once Celtic adjusted to the pace of the game they equitted themselves well, the forwards being a match for the Staningley pack in the last hour and the back row trio of Mark Stott, Brian Ingham and Dale Barlow they had the power to make some good yardage.

They turned round 22-2 down at the break and restricted the Stangingley outfit through the brilliance of fullback Paddy Martin who pulled off three great try saving tackles and made a number of curcial runs.

As the game wore on Celtic began to put in some good yardage but just could not break down Staningley's defence and a couple of late tries did not do the Celtic side justice.

Barrow Island 66

Keighley Albion 'A' 6

Keighley Albion's second string were always going to struggle against this National Conference Division One side, which plays one division higher than the Albion first team.

After five minutes the home side opened the scoring and despite the determined efforts of the Keighley side in defence scored regularly. Towards the end of the first half the Albion put together a good attacking spell which led to a penalty kicked by Danny Bowness but Barrow Island reasserted themselves to make the half-time score 34-2.

After the break it was more of the same with the Cumbrians running in more tries. However the highlight for the visitors came from a Neil Earnshaw break, he slipped a ball to Bobby Brown who kicked ahead to score Albion's only try of the game and rounded off a promising start as captain.

Though soundly beaten Albion can take a great deal of pride in their resolute approach with Martin Fryers and Ian Anderson both putting in outstanding effort in attack and defence.

Rotherham A 26

Worth Village A 20

Worth village A turned in a very poor first 30 minutes, going 20-0 down as XXXX ran in four tries and two conversions.

They roared back with a break from James McComb with McNulty racing on to his pass to score between the posts. McComb goaled. Chris Kelly scored early in the second half and Martin Harrison broke from halfway before dummying the winger and again going in under the posts. McComb converted and followed up with a try to level the scores.

Rotherham stole the cup tie in the dying minutes when the Village defence was impeded at an up-and-under allowing the South Yorkshire outfit to scramble a winning try.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.