Saturday 11th May 2002
Pennine League Division 3
Sowerby Spartans 27 Keighley Albion 'A' 28

Though most of the close result was down to poor Albion defence they held their nerve to prevail in this close clash at Sowerby.

The match started in the usual fashion, tight defences giving away little in both directions but Albion appeared to be gaining the upper hand in both defence and attack.  Ben Farrar and Steve Wrench were especially making a strong impression.  So much for the opening dominance, a well-supported break for Sowerby lead to a converted try on 10 minutes.

Albion hit back instantly, from the kick-off Danny Bowness found touch by the corner flag, a scrum and then a tackle took place.  Chris Atkins scooted from acting half-back to ground the ball by the posts.  Danny Bowness added the conversion.

A few minutes later Ben Farrar repeated his strong running from the fixture 3 weeks previously and shot through tackles and round the full-back on a 30m run to the line.  Danny Bowness sliced wide the conversion but the Keighley side were well on top.

In the next set of six following the restart Andy Parker showed the ball and then shot through a gap.  Unfortunately for the old-timer he had to complete a 40m break sprint to the line but he made it.  Again Danny Bowness couldn't convert.

Again without Sowerby gaining possession Albion went downfield and when Richard Hollins was held up short he slipped out a pass to Danny Brophy who shot over.  With Danny Bowness off it fell to Gary Baxter to attempt the conversion.  He did the perfect Iestyn impersonation except that Harris would have kicked it.

At this stage Albion looked well in command and in a holiday mood.  However Sowerby hit back quickly and gaining a penalty used this pressure to get an unconverted try in the corner.  This score was rather cancelled out when Chris Atkins burst onto a short ball from Andy Parker.  The centre then shot over from 30m out and with Danny Bowness adding the conversion the teams turned round with Abion leading 24-10.

In the second half the visitors again took their foot off the gas.  Not that Sowerby were able to take much advantage of this.  In the 57th minute this complacency was broken when the home second-row shot straight through the line and shot off to make a 60m try.  Not long afterwards more soft tackling from the Albion gave another try, converted this time to put the home side 2 points adrift.

Albion gained a bit of breathing space when the ball was stolen from Ben Farrar in front of the posts and Danny Bowness converted the penalty.  However the Sowerby second-row repeated his earlier feat but from 40m out this time.  No conversion but the scores were tied at 26 apiece with 9 minutes to go.

Sowerby managed a drop goal to put their noses in front.  However they lost the ball in the face of strong tackling in front of their posts and then compounded the error by stealing the ball.   Again Danny Bowness stepped forward and calmly slotted the ball over to give Albion a win.

Next Saturday the 'A' team are at Victoria Vikings.
Tim Cooper

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