Saturday 23rd March 2002
Pennine League Division 3
Keighley Albion 'A' 66 Silsden Park Rangers 0

Albion exceeded their previous high victory over Silsden of 60-6 in this match but it was the newcomers that shone in this performance with Steve Cullen, Richard Blackburn and James Feather all showing their future potential.

The Keighley side set off quickly.  Garry Boocock set off on a storming run and he then slipped out a pass for Scott Belamy to go over.  No conversion but it hardly mattered as on 10 minutes a Glen Palmer short ball gave Danny Bowness a small break and he passed from the tackle to gift Craig Livock an easy try.  Dean Condren added the conversion.

There then followed a ten minute spell with not much happening.  Scott Belamy slipped out of a tackle before sending James Feather on a 40m run and later a Richard Blackburn dummy gave him the space to release Dean Condren on a 50m break.  In each case a lost ball stopped any Albion attacks.

Not that Silsden were going anywhere.  Vicious tackling from the youngsters Steve Cullen, James Feather and Richard Blackburn, backed up by the 'older' heads of Scott Belamy and Garry Boocock ensured no gain for the visitors at all.

This tackling gifted Albion a dropped ball in front of the posts and Andy Parker had the space to put Alistair Feather in.  Dean Condren added the extras.  Another sublime try followed with Glen Palmer giving Steve Cullen some space before releasing Andy Parker, he then returned the pass for Cullen to round the full back and go over.  Dean Condren again converted.  Craig Livock was ankle-tapped as he shot through but managed to release James Feather who handed on for Glen Palmer to score.  Dean Condren added the extras.

Shortly after this effort Glen Palmer put Richard Blackburn through a gap 70m out.  The youngster calmly went 40m up the field and in an act of sheer cruelty passed back to Palmer whose 36 year old legs couldn't make the tryline.

In the last scoring act of the half Garry Boocock swatted off several tackles in a 40m run to go over the posts.  Dean Condren added the conversion to make the score at the break 34-0.

With Albion playing down the slope it was more of the same.  When John Williams made the mistake of coming round the short side of the scrum he was bundled 10m back over his tryline.  It was no surprise that Scott Belamy strolled through some tackling to go over on 45 minutes.  Dean Condren again kicked the extras.

After 60 minutes Garry Boocock used his full vocabulary on a frightening run to the line from 30m out.  Condren converted again.  Steve Cullen dummied his way through to score.  No conversion this time.  Richard Blackburn popped up a short pass to release Livock for a try.

To the disappointment of the large home crowd a long pass from Chris Brookes sent Garry Boocock over in the wing to complete his hat-trick.  Dean Condren again converted.  Finally Steve Cullen shot through over 40m to claim his hat-trick, a fair reward for his efforts in attack and defence.

Danny Bowness took the conversion under the posts in a pathetic attempt to get his name in the paper.  However as he kicked it then it can be said, "Danny Bowness converted".

That wrapped up an easy victory for Albion and they can now look forward to travelling to Greetland this Saturday.
Tim Cooper

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