Rotherham 18 Keighley Town 24 - Keighley Town got their New Year off to a great start with a hard fought win at Rotherham.

Keighley started the better of the two sides and were first onto the scoreboard thanks to a well worked try from the McNulty brothers.

Darren McNultyh times his pass well to put his brother, Rocky, in at the corner. Darren Lynham added the two points to give Keighley a 6-0 lead.

Not long after the re-start Keighley were on the score sheet again thanks to Neil Kennedy who went on a jinking run through the Rotherham defence and then out-paced their fullback to score his first of the day to stretch their lead to 10-0.

Keighley were firmly in command for the first 20 minutes, winning the midfield battle despite giving away about a stone per man to the Rotherham pack who were denied possession for long periods. When the Rotherham side started trying to force passes they lost the ball in their own half.

Hooker Quinton Sneed picked up the man of the match award for his defensive and attacking display throughout the game.

Town scored their third try on 23 minutes with prop Joe Leng going on a thundering run into Rotherham's defence and offloading for Rocky McNulty to side-step his way over the line for his second try. Lynam tagged on the two points to take the score to 16-0.

Rotherham slowed started to claw their way back into the game as their big pack started to make inroads. They scored an unconverted try and added to more converted scores to put the teams level at 16-16.

The second half was played in the middle of the pitch with both defences holding firm. Quinton and Lynam were involved in almost everything Keighley did with second row men Dale Spencer and Jamie Benn on top form.

The deadlock was broken in the 65th minute when both centres, Andy Stokes and Darren McNulty linked up well to open a game in the defence, only for McNulty to be brought down by a high tackle.

Neil Kennedy converted the penalty to give Town a slender 18-16 lead.

On the re-start they drove deep into Rotherham's half with a good set of six tackles and Lynam put through a grubber kick on the last tackle for Neil Kennedy to gather and touch down. The score put town 24-16 up but they were caught offside and Rotherham kicked the penalty to close the gap again.

In the closing minutes Rotherham looked certain to score a try, but Danny Paton pulled off an heroic try-saving tackle to secure the win for Keighley.

n Cowling Harlequin are due to play their first game for five weeks on Saturday against Halifax Irish A at Cougar Park.

The club's last three games have been called off because of lost referees, waterlogged and frozen pitches.

"Cougars have very kindly offered us the use of their pitch if it is fit and we hope to get a good crowd down to watch," said a Colwing Harlequin spokesman.