Halifax Irish A 14 Keighley Town A 18
Keighley Town A travelled to Halifax with just 13 players but this was reduced to 12 when Mark Leighton suffered a badly broken leg after just ten minutes. Coach Gary Baker said this had been Leighton's best season since his arrival at Town.
Losing 10-0 and down to 12 players, the odds were stacked against them but Town dug deep to turn the game around.
Jimmy Shaw and Dean Williamson took control of the game and got the forwards on a role. Paul Phillips, Chris Langsdale and Andrew Norton drove deep into the Halifax half. Then Williamson slipped the ball to Darren McNulty who drew the defence and passed the ball to Chris Ellison who powered over the line to score. Langsdale missed the extras.
From the restart Town worked hard with Jason Dovestone and Ian Barnes making yards. Town's ball retention and hard tackling took the sting out of the Halifax players who struggled to get out of their half.
Eventually Town got their second try out wide, the final pass came from McNulty who gave to ball to Langsdale who beat four players to score. This time Langsdale got his touch line kick to make it 10-10. Just before half-time Town took the lead when Langsdale landed a penalty from 35 yards.
In the second half Town gave away a cheap penalty, which led to a well-worked try by Halifax, who took a two-point lead.
Good interchange passing between Dove-stone, Barnes and Norton opened up the Halifax defence and Norton raced 40 yards, only to be caught inches from the line.
Town made their possession pay when they drew the defence one way and switched the ball the other. Ellison was on hand to score. Langsdale added the two points, which gave Town a 18-14 lead that they kept until the final whistle.
It was a good performance from the players, whose first thought was for Leighton.
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