Improved but frustrated

YORKSHIRE ONE

Keighley 13

A MUCH improved, but somewhat frustrating, performance by Dinnington saw them come close to turning the tables on Keighley.

At times it was hard to believe that the clubs are at either ends of the table and several observers were left trying to find a correlation between Dinnington’s effort and their position in the league.

Dinnington made a good start taking the lead with a penalty from Chris Williams after three minutes.

At the first scrum, and for most of the scrums in the game, Dinnington overpowered their opponents and were awarded another penalty which Williams converted after five minutes.

Keighley rallied and then both sides shared phases of attacking play.

Dinnington defended well to keep the visitors out before moving the ball through several phases into the Keighley 22 only to lose the ball at a ruck.

More pressure won Dinnington another penalty, on halfway, but Williams’ effort was agonisingly just off target.

Keighley were always a threat and they should have done more with two promising phases of play only to knock on both times.

Dinnington themselves were not immune to handling errors and they too spilled the ball after making yards from a quickly taken penalty.

Just before halftime, Dinnington won another penalty on half way and again Williams chose to go for goal.

This time the ball landed on the crossbar but rebounded the wrong way and so Dinnington went into half time only 6-0 ahead.

Early in the second half, Dinnington turned the ball over at a Keighley scrum but as they broke away with the ball they were penalised at a ruck and this gave the visitors the chance to cut the lead with a penalty.

Dinnington then had a period of pressure which started when they controlled the ball through at least 12 phases of play only to be forced into touch near the visitors’ line.

They then won the ball at a Keighley scrum which drew a penalty and a further penalty moments later was quickly taken ending in Will Marshall being pushed over for a try.

Keighley then began to use the wind, which had dropped considerably from the first half, to pin Dinnington back into their own 22 from where the home side struggled to escape.

Keighley missed a penalty mid-way through the half but minutes later they set up a catch and drive from a lineout to score an unconverted try.

Dinnington were having difficulty defending against these and 10 minutes from time they did well to halt another drive.

However, despite forcing the ball wide they were unable to stop Keighley going over in the corner to take the lead.

The visitors were then able to keep Dinnington in their own 22 for the remainder of the game to prevent the home side from staging any dramatic finale.

Tomorrow, Dinnington are away to Heath.

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