Cleckheaton 15 ,Keighley 13

Graeme Sheffield reckons he is beginning to sound a bit like a broken record.

Keighley’s director of rugby had again just witnessed a wholehearted performance from his team.

In many ways they were the better side but the visitors once more only came away with a losing bonus point in this SSE North One East derby.

Sheffield, having watched a display that almost gave them a third victory of the season, said: “We are at the halfway point of the season and what you will always get from Keighley is honesty and straightforwardness.”

Some Keighley spectators said their side’s efforts reminded them of the 13-12 home defeat against Malton & Norton last month, and Sheffield said: “It was very, very similar, except that they scored in the last minute (rather than the last five minutes) but it was exactly the same as the Old Crossleyans game (lost 22-19 away in October).”

It has become a bit of a cliche that teams in the nether regions of the table tend to get decisions going against them but it is something that Sheffield firmly believes in.

He said: “It is not cheating on the part of referees but you don’t get the rub of the green when you are at the bottom.

“Eight referees out of ten would have given us a penalty try after a second or a third penalty went against Cleckheaton when they were deep in their 22 just before the hour mark.”

However, Sheffield added: “I was impressed with Cleckheaton’s defence.”

The mutual admiration society didn’t end there.

Cleckheaton’s chairman Neil Gillan, nursing a couple of broken ribs and an injured shoulder from a recent rugby match, said: “Keighley were better than we thought they would be and they came down very determined.

“They are a decent side, they nearly beat us and they can progress. Hopefully they will put something together.”

As for his own side’s display, Gillan said: “We have had a very disruptive two weeks. We didn’t play last weekend having played poorly against Northern, and training has been a problem with the weather.

“But in the last ten minutes of the game we played our best rugby, including about eight phases before Iain Gordon kicked the winning drop goal.”

Cleckheaton were strangely lethargic in the first half, despite No 8 Richard Piper giving them the lead by getting on the end of a 20-metre drive in the 18th minute for Gordon to convert.

Keighley skipper Leigh Sugden was in the sin-bin by this time for forcefully knocking away an opposing arm, but their man of the match Ben Blackwell put the visitors back in it by landing two penalties before half-time.

Again Keighley paid the penalty for having a man sin-binned in the second half, Paul Rossi being the culprit this time in the 48th minute.

A minute later, Cleckheaton’s skipper and man of the match Richard Piper went over for his second try to make it 12-6.

However, Keighley then mounted sustained pressure that resulted in both Cleckheaton prop Paul Turner and scrum half Jack Bickerdike being sin-binned by referee Chris Binnie.

Visiting centre Marco Ferrazzano’s charge set up the platform for Leigh Sugden to score a try in the 65th minute - he had earlier wrongly been denied a try because the referee ruled held up - and Blackwell’s conversion put them 13-12 ahead.

Blackwell’s 71st-minute break almost brought Keighley further reward but his pass to replacement Josh Hannah was too low and was spilled.

Then came fly half Gordon’s calm drop goal and, for the sixth time in 13 matches this season, Keighley had to settle for a losing bonus point.

They are now eight points adrift of safety but with the promise of better things to come in the second half of the campaign when they get their strongest side out.

Cleckheaton, still regretting that loss to Northern, stayed sixth, and are 14 points behind a play-off berth.