York 20, Keighley 14 - Keighley had to hastily re-arrange Sarturday's game after Selby re-scheduled their cup match.

They travelled to York for a non-league match to enable the club to have a fixture.

Due to work commitments and illness, the Crusaders' side was very different from the one selected but once they had got into their stride, albeit rather belatedly, they gave a good performance against a superior side several divisions above them.

The first half-hour was very even with York leading by two penalty goals following Crusaders indiscretions. The goals were kicked by veteran fly-half Brown who, apart from his accurate goal kicking, became a thorn in Keighley's side with kicks from deep in his own half when his side were under pressure. Indeed if it were not for him the York side would have been in deep trouble, his reading of the game being very astute.

The pressure by Keighley in the latter minutes of the first half nearly saw points on the board, Kevin Young being brought down just before the line after an excellent piece of pure rugby with an excellent break by him.

Immediately after half-time the Crusaders fly-half, Gaffney, making his debut in that position, suffered a knee injury and was replaced by Gary Davey, who himself was not 100 per cent fit.

Many promising attacks by the Crusaders went unrewarded as the skill of the York fly-half came to the fore as his long kicks down field and to touch took effect. On threequarter time, the Keighley defence appeared to slacken and within minutes both the York scrum-half, Smith, and then second row Richards scored tries close to the posts which were converted by Brown to leave Keighley were 20-0 down.

However the Crusaders came back in force. An well taken pass by Warren Knowles started the fightback with slick interpassing among the backs and gliding runs, dodging tackles and strong running. The efforts of Nick Wright and Knowles enabled Peter Le Gallon to score a fine try which Gary Davey converted.

The Crusaders stepped up a gear and with the second row Chris Leach making a good break the pressure began to tell. York seemed to start to crack and eventually the Keighley pressure told. Following a penalty awarded to the Crusaders on the half-way line, the tap kick was quickly taken by Kubran, passed to Young who in turn fed Gary Davey for a magnificent try.

Unfortunately Davey pulled a muscle in the process and was unable to convert his own try, Atkins took the kick and the score was 20-14 to York. The York defence could then see that Keighley might steal the game but held out to the final whistle despite Keighley pressure.

Unfortunately once again Keighley gave the opposition too much start before coming back into the game and were forced to pla catch-up rugby, which might be exciting for spectators but it is very hard on the players.