Sunday 25th November 2001
Women's Premier Division
BIRKENSHAW DRAGONS  18  KEIGHLEY ALBION CATS  38

The Cats are currently enjoying their most successful season for some time and can probably boast their strongest ever squad this term. A measure of this was the way they overcame a spirited Birkenshaw side without ever performing close to their best.

The match kicked off in dry but very cold conditions with Keighley enjoying the advantage of the slope in the first half. Almost from their first attack the Cats breached the Dragons cover and a slick move ended with loose forward Alex Knight touching down near the sticks, skipper Laura Ackroyd adding on the conversion.

A period of scrappy play followed before Knight again forced her way over and Ackroyd again converted. Birkenshaw then got themselves back in the game when some slack Keighley tackling allowed the Dragons prop to score a soft try. The kick was converted and the Cats now led 12-6.

Keighley then began to play with a little more authority and better tackling snuffed out any Birkenshaw threats. Sarah Cartwright then raced up the wing outpacing every would be tackler to score a fine individual try, the conversion was missed but there was again daylight between the two teams.

Then within the space of a couple of minutes the Cats opened up the Dragons defence only to be brought back for forward passes that only the referee seemed to see. However Keighley were not to be denied and Ackroyd herself scored the final try of the half and with the conversion added they led comfortably at half time by  22 points to 6.

The second half began with Keighley having perhaps their worst 10 minutes of the season so far. The whole team seemed to be collectively asleep and Birkenshaw claimed two quick tries. With both conversions added the score was back to 22-18 in Keighley’s favour and the Dragons tails were up.

However the Cats finally woke up and with Keira Burns driving the forwards up the field the Dragons lost their momentum. Burns herself scored the next try forcing her way over from close in, Ackroyd again converting.

Soon afterwards Ackroyd scored her second and also converted again to take the game out of Birkenshaws reach. The writing was on the wall and they began to adopt a damage limitation exercise with players receiving lengthy treatment after every other tackle. However there was still time for Louise Clark to score the final try and the referee to thwart further Keighley scores with dubious “forward pass” decisions.

Laura Ackroyd took the player of the match award, closely followed by Keira Burns.

This week the Cats will have to step up a gear when they entertain Hull Dockers at Marley. Kick off 2 p.m.

Return to the home page