Keighley Albion 42 Clayton 6 - Cougar scouts were out in force as Messers Roe, Hollindrake and Spencer were entertained by Albion as they kept hot on the heals of leaders Drighlington.

They produced another emphatic eight-try romp at the expense of strugglers Clayton at Highfield with full back, and man of the match, Richard Broughton once again having a superb game. He fielded every high ball with confidence and was a constant thorn in the side of a Clayton outfit who at times promised so much but delivered so little.

The opening try for the home side came after just 12 minutes when second row forward Scott Bellamy slipped out an incredible pass just short of the Clayton line for the supporting Wrench to crash over, leaving stand off Muff with an easy conversion.

The ever-impressive Broughton popped up on 18 minutes to add the first of his brace and winger Steve Smith ran in from 70 metres as Albion eased into a comfortable 16-0 lead.

To their credit Clayton kept their composure and an encouraging 10-minute spell of controlled rugby saw then pull back to 16-6 at the break.

The second half saw Albion cut loose with the pick of their five tries coming from a fine passage of open rugby with the ball passing through several pairs of hands resulting in a score for captain Richard Hollins.

Clayton were soon down to 12 men after some dissent towards referee Dave Ansall resulted in a red card and this signalled their capitulation as Keighley ran in a further four tries from Bailey, Broughton, Atkins and Bookock.

The boot of substitute James Young added a further six points to give Albion a well deserved 42-6 victory.

Alex Young, Chris Dooling and Steve Wrench were also outstanding for the Highfield side.

N This Saturday Albion have their sternest test for many seasons as they travel to high flyers and Yorkshire Cup winners Sharlston Rovers (ko 2.30pm).

Keighley Town A 26

Cowling 8

Town were looking for revenge after they lost away to Cowling at the start of the season.

Town have steadily improved and they pinned Cowling in their own half for the first 20 minutes with Partridge, Spencer, O'Connor and Clough refusing to let Cowling play. Gillard and P Phillips completely snuffed out anything from Cowling's play makers Feather and Greenwood.

Town eventually crossed the line after some hard drives from Benn, Partridge aAnd Dovestone. Gillard then dropped an inside ball to big Tom McAndrew who crashed over the line to score. From the re-start Town's Simon McKay drove deep in to the Cowling half ,O'Connor made further yards as did Gall, Barnes took the ball in at pace but was held up short.

Cowling could do nothing to stop Keighley but Town were suffering from 'white line fever' and should have shipped the ball out wide and by not doing so spurned many try-scoring opportunities. However they scored when O'Connor once again stepped his way through the defence to touch down. From the restart Cowling got a bit of luck as the ball bounced into touch giving them the scrum. Town soon got the ball back after putting in some big hits by Benn, Spencer, Partridge and Parker forcing a Cowling knock-on.

But all credit to Cowling they won the ball against the head and scored soon after when Feather found a gap to dive over but couldn't add the extras.

The second half started much as the first with Town not giving an inch with Spencer, Clough, and Norton tackling anything that moved. Half-backs Gillard and O'Connor worked well together moving the ball all over the pitch, Barnes, Phillips and McAndrew were eager for work and eventually Cowling cracked with Clough diving over to score.

Keighley again missed out by not moving the ball out wide on numerous occasions. However, Town kept Cowling at bay when they had the ball and eventually scored again when Spencer followed up his own chip through. The full back picked it up but Spencer pinched the ball in a one-on-one tackle to dive over.

By this time the game was over but Cowling never gave up and in the last seconds Greenwood touched down but again couldn't add the extra two.

O'Connor took the man of the match award after a fine game and personal tally of one try and five goals. He was closely followed by Spencer and P Phillips . Cowling's Verity brothers also worked hard as did Brown.

Results: Keighley Albion 42, Clayton 6; Siddal 38 Keighley Town 10; West Craven Warriros 46, Hudersfield Sharks A 22; Keighley Town A 22, Cowling Harlequin 18.

Fixtures: Keighley Town v Elland; Sharlston Rovers v Keighley Albion; Silsden PR v Crigglestone All Blacks; Cowling Harlequin v Wortley Dragons.