Late flurry of points can't paper over the cracks of Keighley's Yorkshire Division One defeat at Scarborough

THIS proved a difficult day at the seaside for a disjointed Keighley side, who were comprehensively outplayed by a rampant Scarborough.

The visitors had very little possession in the first 20 minutes, being battered by waves of attack, and even when they got the ball the kicking out of defence was dire, gifting the hosts further opportunities to exert pressure.

Eventually strong running against the grain by Scarborough’s powerful centres Billy Parker and Tom Ratcliffe forced Keighley to narrow their defence, which gave winger Jonty Holloway space to score an easy try in the corner.

When Keighley managed to gain some territory, their poorly functioning line-out gave Scarborough even more opportunity and, from a five-metre scrum, No 8 Ben Martin took advantage to cross near the posts, with fly half Tom Harrison adding the conversion.

Keighley managed to contain further pressure, but their own efforts were hampered by a distinct inability to hold onto the ball in contact and poor handling, and towards the end of the half winger Holloway added a further try.

At the restart, Keighley looked more determined but were outdone when they again lost the ball in the opposition’s 22.

A kick through and chase found no-one at home and a gifted try for full back James Harris, with Harrison adding the extras.

To add insult to injury, Holloway finished off a basic backs move to complete his hat-trick, Harrison again adding the conversion.

Trailing 31-0, Keighley stirred themselves, with hard-working wing forward Dan Snowden leading the way and outside centre Rob Wilkinson fixing defenders.

The visitors finally managed to put some phases together and give full back Jason Kaye the opportunity to score wide out, with Alex Brown kicking the difficult conversion.

The Keighley forwards, with Snowden, Shaun Minikin and Rob Baldwin making their presence felt, managed to put Scarborough under pressure.

Unfortunately their good work was undone when Scarborough’s veteran heavyweight prop Matty Jones sold an outrageous dummy in midfield before slipping the ball to Harris, who scored between the posts for Harrison to convert.

Keighley, with time running out, finished strongly. Minikin drove play forward and the move was given impetus by Baldwin, allowing Minikin to finish the sequence off with a well-earned try wide out to which Brown added the conversion.

A quick tap penalty by scrum half Jonny Clark and some good driving play allowed debutant lock James Fox the chance to drive over, with brown converting.

In many respects the final score flattered Keighley as they were too often outplayed in all phases, with the forwards lacking cohesion and muscle.

As a result, the backs were always on the back foot, had little possession to play with and were simply overstretched.

There is plenty for the new coaching team to work on before Saturday’s game at Selby.