Heath edge competitive derby

This SSE Yorkshire Division One derby was a good game between evenly-matched teams.

Heath opened the scoring with a penalty from outside half Ezra Hinchliffe, closely followed by a penalty from Keighley’s Alex Brown.

Although Heath dominated the scrums, the Keighley backs, with winger Sam Walker in fine form, caused the visitors' defence some difficulties.

After a period of Keighley pressure, Heath regained the lead with a further penalty from Hinchliffe, who also scored a well-taken try that he converted. Just before half-time, Keighley gained some reward for their efforts with a penalty from Brown.

The second half started well for Keighley, an early penalty kick rebounding off the upright into the hands of Walker, who found support, wing forward Tom Lowther getting the try and Brown converting to level the scores at 13-13.

There followed a period of sustained Keighley pressure, Brown and Hinchliffe swapping penalties, but the Heath defence held firm and they regained the lead with a further penalty from Hinchliffe.

In the latter stages of the game, some powerful work from the Heath forwards gave their No 8 Ian Downsborough the chance to touch down, Hinchliffe adding to his impressive tally with a well-struck conversion.