BRADFORD & Bingley were their own worst enemies, said their new head coach Alister MacDonald in the wake of their 60-10 Counties One Yorkshire defeat at third-placed Keighley.

Bottom-of-the-table Bees, whose relegation has already been confirmed, started well and took a 3-0 lead but eventually conceded 10 tries in a massive defeat to their near-neighbours.

MacDonald said: "You cannot go for 80 minutes and keep shooting yourself in the foot when you are putting yourself in a position and then missing kicks to touch, missing tackles, giving needless penalties away or being offside.

"We didn't feel that we got the rub of the green from the referee, with the same offences being penalised differently, so it was tough, but we stuck in there and kept going for the full 80 minutes.

"The game pretty much summed up our season, where we had multiple entries into their 22 and we have made the wrong decision.

“We buckled under our own pressure and expectations and ignored the easy option of kicking a penalty or we have gone to touch and messed up the line-out.

"What I will say is we were missing James McNichol (concussion), Robbie Spencer, Alex Leadbeater (suspended for eight weeks), Roger Raper, Jason Maranka, Ricky Palacio and Ben Hemsley, none of whom will be back for next weekend.

“There are probably one or two that I have missed out to be honest, the list is so long.

"We have a very young line-up, the average age is about 23, so we have a lot to learn.

“Counties Two will probably be good for us as we have a lot of good age-group players in the background who have regularly reached Yorkshire Cup finals or semi-finals.

"We have to batten down the hatches until then and we have a long pre-season ahead of us, with us down in Counties Two Yorkshire for the first time.

“But we do get to finish this season with the oldest cross-border fixture in rugby union, which is Edinburgh Academicals v Bradford & Bingley, and we go up there for the weekend of April 19 to April 21.

"We haven't entered the (end of season) Papa John's Community Cup but it is unreal that the Accies fixture is back on.

“We also have two more league games before that, and we want to go down swinging."

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: The Bees (black, red and yellow) have shown plenty of promise this season, but have tended to fall short in games, like this 17-10 derby defeat to Bradford Salem back in September. The Bees (black, red and yellow) have shown plenty of promise this season, but have tended to fall short in games, like this 17-10 derby defeat to Bradford Salem back in September. (Image: JT Sports Media.)

MacDonald, handed the reigns when Carl Paterson found out that his job as a paramedic was impinging on his coaching duties too much, added: "We have now established our leadership structure for next season.

“Luke Spauls is continuing as skipper next season, backed up by Corey Spencer.

“I have two assistants, and we are in early talks with players Jim McNichol and Sam Lindeman, who might be moving on.

"They are young lads and have skills that could take them to any country, and if they do decide to move on they will go with our blessing, a pat on the back and a big thank you."

Keighley went 3-0 behind in the fourth minute on Saturday when they were penalised for not releasing the tackler, with scrum half Dom Walker popping over an easy penalty.

However, the hosts took the lead two minutes later when full back Alfie Seeley put lock Ed Keighley over, Brown converting for 7-3 from wide out.

Then, a great run from Seeley and soft hands from hooker Dec Hampson put in prop Sam Booker for his first try, with Brown again tagging on the extra points to make it 14-3.

Centre Sean Kelly took advantage of the porous Bees defence to get Keighley's third try in the 29th minute, Brown again being accurate off the tee, just before going off with a calf injury.

Leading 21-3, Keighley made the perfect start to the second half when Booker went over in the left-hand corner in front of the clubhouse a minute in, winger Jack Atkinson missing with the conversion.

Home skipper, No.8 Tom Whyte, scored six minutes later with a strong run, Atkinson making it 33-3 with the extras.

But the home side then had a horrible five minutes, with Adam Horsfall - Brown's replacement - putting a pass straight into the hands of Bees winger Ryan Wilson, who scampered 70 metres to score for Walker to convert.

Two Keighley players were then high tackled within seconds of each other, Wilson seeing yellow for one of them on an afternoon when the referee tried his best to keep 30 players on the field.

Atkinson went over on 62 minutes on the back of a massive Keighley push at a scrum before winger Jack Wild scored five minutes later after good combination play.

Home scrum half Nathan Pickles was then held up over the line before the inevitable happened two minutes later from a five-metre scrum, with Whyte scoring.

Seeley, Keighley's third goal-kicker of the afternoon, missed with the conversion attempt.

And there was still enough time for Jack Wild and Atkinson to complete their braces, with Atkinson landing the conversion from his own try to bring up 60 points.

Elsewhere in the division, Bradford Salem continued their winning ways with a well-earned 31-15 victory at Old Rishworthian to maintain their slender one point lead at the top of the table with two games to go.

In Counties Two Yorkshire, Baildon have fallen off a cliff since the turn of the year, and will now have to settle for fifth place this season following Saturday’s poor 27-19 defeat at relegation-threatened Hemsworth.

Cleckheaton are almost certainly safe in Regional One North East, but they came close to guaranteeing survival on Saturday, only to fall narrowly short in a battling 22-18 defeat at high-flying Harrogate.