Keighley 24 North Ribblesdale 10

A DOMINANT performance by the Ribb pack was not sufficient to lift them from the foot of Yorkshire One.

Their good work in both the set piece and the loose were undone in the final 15 minutes of the game.

Poor decisions were made and the home side gleefully pounced on these errors, snatching victory with three further tries and a conversion.

The first 20 minutes were a real tussle, with Keighley using their big centres to crash the ball up the middle.

Ribb's defence was superb in stopping the hosts on the advantage line. However, after a long touch kick by fly-half Chris Meehan, the home forwards applied pressure and a missed tackle allowed hooker Shaun Minikin to score halfway out, Ben Blackwell converting.

Ribb were showing good character in controlling a big Keighley side and when David Shepherd made a superb break, Ribb found themselves camped near the home line.

After several pick and drives, Matt Speres managed to force his way over near the posts, Mick Thwaite added the conversion.

Then, after a sniping run by scrum-half Peter Cook, second phase ball was quickly won. Keighley went offside and Mick Thwaite converted the penalty to put Ribb in front 10-7 at half-time.

This was possibly Ribb's best half of the season and with slope advantage to come after the break players and spectators had plenty of optimism for a rewarding second period.

Good play by captain Jonny Moore and the Ribb back row resulted in Keighley again transgressing in front of the posts. Unfortunately the penalty was missed.

Keighley were still intent on moving the ball wide but again Ribb's excellent defence prevailed. Then the home side seemed to find an extra gear. They forced a five-metre scrum, got a quick ball to Meehan, who kicked to the far corner where winger Joe Copperwaite caught the ball in full flight to touch down in the corner.

Ribb still had plenty of time to snatch a deserved win but they elected to run the ball instead of kicking deep into the home half, and with speculative passes going to ground, Ribb were now back in their own 22.

A quick line-out was taken and with Ribb losing concentration, Alfie Sealy had a clear run to the line for a try which was, converted by Blackwell.

In the dying minutes a rolling maul from a line-out drive saw Keighley go over in the corner to give Keighley a five-point win.

For long periods in the game Ribb were the dominant side, but through lack of focus and wrong options taken they lost the game. They will surely will learn from this very disappointing result.