Keighley put last week’s loss against Bradford Salem behind them with a workman-like home performance to beat a resilient Pocklington 21-6 in Counties One Yorkshire, moving above their visitors and into third in the process.

The hosts started well, as lovely hands across the backs found centre Alfie Seeley in space.

A quick pass outside and winger Sam Blakeley was over, but unfortunately there had been a foot in touch so the game remained scoreless.

Keighley maintained the pressure but were unable to turn that into points, as the Pocklington defence absorbed everything thrown at them.

Slowly but surely, Pocklington fought their way back into the game and always looked capable of scoring, especially when powerful full back Christian Pollock joined the attack.

Their enterprise and hard work was rewarded with a successful long range penalty from Pollock, putting them in front.

But Keighley soon hit the front when a speculative kick from Alex Brown was mishandled.

The ball ended up with Seeley, who sprinted hard before flicking the ball inside to Blakeley who went over to score, with Brown adding the conversion.

Keighley began to dominate possession, which led to a long-range penalty for Brown, putting them 10-3 in front.

Although Keighley pressured and moved the ball well, it was too often slowed down at source, which made it difficult to breakdown a well-organised defence.

But a late period of first-half pressure took Keighley deep into Pocklington territory, possession was driven hard by the forwards, and the move was finished off by second row Ed Keighley, who scored in the corner.

Keighley News: Ed Keighley flies over to give Keighley some breathing space.Ed Keighley flies over to give Keighley some breathing space. (Image: John Ashton.)

Pocklington quickly raised their game, and with their backline going well, they gained good ground and scored a penalty through Pollock to reduce the deficit to single figures.

But a few minutes before the half-time whistle, Brown successfully landed another penalty to give Keighley an 18-6 lead.

The second half was an arm wrestle from start to finish, with both teams trying their best to search out weaknesses, but the defences dominating.

After a big effort, Keighley were rewarded with another penalty from Alex Brown to go 21-6 in front.

Pocklington were struggling in the scrums, but made good use of their possession, with their backs putting Keighley under pressure.

However the Keighley midfield defence, ably led by centre Adam Horsfall and fully supported by the back row, nullified every move superbly.

Towards the end of the game, Keighley wrestled back the initiative and were camped inside the Pocklington 22, but they were unable to finish off excellent phase play through a lack of composure and solid defensive work from the opposition.

That meant Brown’s penalty was the only score of the whole half, and although Keighley were deserving of their victory, they had been forced to work hard for it by Pocklington.

This coming Saturday sees Keighley make a trip down the road to face struggling Bradford District rivals Bradford & Bingley.

The Bees are showing real improvement this season, earning their first league win in nearly four years at the start of the month, and coming close to beating Bradford Salem, going down 17-10 to their neighbours at the end of September.