Keighley 20 Ilkley 25

Keighley are wondering how influential in the outcome of this hard-fought, tight derby was an Ilkley official speaking to the referee at half-time.

Veteran Keighley scrum half Kevin Bottomley said: "Apparently one of their members went on to the pitch at half-time and said to the referee something to the effect that The penalty count is 11-2 in Keighley's favour' - but the penalty count in the second half was 11-2 in Ilkley's favour.

"In my opinion the referee (David Downham from Moortown) changed the way that he was refereeing and we seemed to get caught out, rightly or wrongly, and that made a big difference.

"He did us four times in succession for going in from the side - something he had never pulled us up for in the first half.

"He nipped us in the bud in the second half with the penalty count so we couldn't keep the flow going.

"We needed to keep rumbling on but maybe we got over-excited and conceded all those penalties, which broke the game up."

Although Ilkley scored choice first-half tries from fly half Anthony Cad-man, after a great break by No 8 Stew-art Brewer, and the confident Jack Shaylor, fellow centre Peter Shanks adding one conversion, the visitors were pegged back by four penalties from Keighley fly half Alex Brown.

"That's the best game in terms of kicking penalties that I have seen Alex play," said 45-year-old Bottomley.

"He was really consistent but unfortunately he missed probably his easiest attempt of the lot just before half-time that would have given us a 15-12 lead.

"However, for a lad in his late teens he has a lot of talent and is doing really well."

Brown's fifth successful kick gave Keighley a 15-12 advantage early in the second half but Shanks soon levelled matters up with his first penalty.

Great continuity in attack led to scrum half Oliver Coughlan getting Ilkley's third try in the 67th minute and then came one of the the game's pivotal moments.

A Brown interception was pulled back for an offside decision in the 78th min-ute which Shanks kicked to put promotion-chasing Ilkley into a ten-point lead. In injury time, Keighley right winger Danny Lester was high-tackled and a minute later left winger Sam Walker showed his strength to go over in the left corner but there wasn't enough time for Keighley to get another chance.

Bottomley was chuffed with the efforts of his team, saying: "We haven't played a meaningful match for five weeks so it was a fantastic effort, and the forwards stuck at it really well.

"If Ilkley had spun it wide from quick ball we might have run out of steam but we managed to tie them in and keep it messy.

"However, Ilkley played well and took their chance well for the try at the end of the match. They deserved their win - just."

It was a seasonal debut for 31-year-old Woodhouse Grove schoolteacher Cad-man, whose education commitments prevent him playing as much first-team rugby as he would like.

He explained: "Work comes first as it pays the bills - I am very busy on Sat-urdays doing the first team at Grove - and because I cannot play regularly I tend to find myself in Ilkley's second team.

"It was a bit scrappy but the first game after Christmas often is. We started well and one or two decisions stop-ped us getting the quick ball that we wanted, and if we had had that we might have scored some more points.

"But it was tough and competitive, Keighley slowed the game down, which suited them more than us, and conditions got a bit heavy underfoot.

"Keighley have turned a bit of a corner looking at their results, and certainly the way they played and the spirit they showed gave them a sniff of victory and they latched on to that.

"They played really well, pressured us and defended really well. We were not happy with the penalty count in the first half - there were some interesting interpretations - and us knocking on from two tap penalties was a case of more haste, less speed."

As to whether the late Shanks penalty was a turning point that followed immediately from Brown's interception being crossed off, Cadman said: "There was equally a case for allowing one of our passes in the first half when our centre went through but that pass was ruled forward."

Sandal's first defeat of the season at Salem means that Ilkley are now only a point behind the Wakefield side with nine matches to play.

"It's all to play for as our coach Robin Kay keeps telling us. We are in three competitions - the league, the EDF Energy Senior Vase and the Yorkshire Shield - and we are in with a shout in all three."