Drighlington u-13s 26 Keighley Albion u-13s 0

THE SCORELINE suggests a comfortable win for Drighlington, who were deserved winners but only led 8-0 with five minutes remaining.

A third home try killed off any lingering hope the visitors had of a comeback as Albion’s heads dropped, allowing the scoreline to somewhat flatter the hosts.

Playing on a postage stamp of a pitch, there was little chance of much wide play, causing the game to be an attritional affair down the middle.

Albion pushed the hosts back and, for the first 15 minutes, dominated territory. However, Drighlington stayed in the game and when mistakes crept in by the visitors, the hosts penned them on their own line.

Albion lost tackling machine Riley Corby just before the break and, on the stroke of half-time, conceded the first try to Drighlington’s impressive centre.

Trailing 4-0 at the break, Albion soon found themselves down two scores when the hosts' centre crossed again.

Keighley were not helping themselves by their inability to stop Drighlington’s runners on the gain line. With five minutes remaining, off a scrum deep in Albion territory, Drig’s centre completed his hat-trick after some poor tackling. His break on the following set allowed a score from acting half.

To rub salt into the wound, a speculative chip through was caught on the full as Drig's centre added his fourth try.

Keighley were indebted to some strong defence from opposition pick Ben McParland, with Archie Medway and Reece Smollen the other nominations from the hosts.

Albion need to learn that they need to remain in the arm wrestle and not allow their intensity to drop when they do not penetrate the opposition line.