KEIGHLEY moved up to third in Yorkshire One behind Bridlington and Old Brodleians after showing their versatility in defeating top-seven rivals Scarborough on a chilly afternoon at Rose Cottage.

They overcame the loss of No 8 Josh Hannah to a medial ligament strain as early as the fourth minute.

“We were quietly confident before kick-off,” admitted Keighley centre Ben Blackwell, “but we probably gave them too much respect in the first half.

“We had to do a lot of defending in the first half and their No 8 (Isaac Faamau) and 13 (Maioni Moata’ane) carried the ball well, but then we quietly got into it in the second half.”

With a little bit more organisation near the visitors’ line and more of a helping hand from referee Hanson Haigh (West Yorkshire Society), Keighley could even have got a four-try bonus point.

Blackwell was denied a try for a knock on in the 64th minute, but admitted: “I think I scored it, and we deserved maybe one or two more tries, but we’ll take the win.

“We have worked hard in training, and the whole team got stuck in overall against Scarborough, but particularly back-rower Tom Lowther in the first half.”

A neatly-placed cross-kick by fly half Alex Brown almost put right winger Jack Atkinson over in the second minute, but the hosts managed to retain possession and Atkinson scored the opening try seconds later, with Scarborough adamant that the winger hadn’t grounded the ball properly.

But the visitors got the equalising try in the sixth minute via right winger Joe Marshall in the corner, with Scarborough shrugging off would-be tacklers.

Brown put Keighley back in the lead with a 22nd-minute penalty, and that was extended on the half-hour when full back Alfie Seeley came into the line at pace and Atkinson got his second try, the winger somehow twisting his way over.

In a first half that lasted 49 minutes, the hosts lost Atkinson to a yellow card just before the interval for a late tackle on scrum half Jordan Wakeham.

Scarborough had to do the vast majority of the defending in the second half, and Haigh blew his whistle just before Keighley scrum half Rob Wilkinson scooted over, sin-binning Scarborough hooker Ethynne Terblanche seconds later for dissent.

Horsfall and Tom Lowther were denied from short range, flanker Shaun Minikin’s pass was tapped away under extreme pressure, and then came Blackwell’s ‘try’, Keighley having to settle for two more Brown penalties.