Saturday 8th September 2001
National Conference League Division 2
Keighley Albion 13 Dewsbury Moor 18

This was Albions first home game of the season and their opponents were Dewsbury Moor, who like Albion were looking to get their first points of the season after 2 defeats on the trot.

Albion got off to a great start when a move started by John Gwilliam and carried on by Gary Boocock who sent Chris Hogg in for a try, the goal kick was off the target but Albion led by 4 points to nil in the 5^th minute.

The Moor weren’t here to make up the numbers and had Albion on the defensive as their half backs Julian Yarrow and Dean Arandal combined to take them into Albions 20 metre area, but Kris Kirk and Rob Haughey snuffed out this attack. As play went up and down field Albion were penalized for holding down and Moors Steve Beard kicked the penalty goal to make the score line 4 points to 2 in the 10^th minute.

Albion embarked on a period of dominance but on the 15^th minute mark a chance went begging as the last pass went to ground with the full back beaten. Moors Andy Robinson and Andy Delaney were trying to get their teams attacks going but Albions defence was holding firm with Steve Wrench and Martin Fryers to the fore.

Albion then increased their lead when John Gwilliam dropped a field goal to make 5 points to 2, on the 23-minute mark. Albion attacked again but once more poor finishing let them down, but in a good passage of play on the last tackle John Gwilliam chipped through the Moor defence for Danny Horne to score a try, again no goal to add but Albion had a 9 point to 2 lead on 33 minutes. This was to be the final score of the half in which Albion had created chances but had not taken full advantage of them. Half Time Albion 9 points – Dewsbury Moor 2 points.

Albion got off to the best possible start when from the first scrum in the Moor 22 area, from a set move John Gwilliam took the short side option to send Danny Horne in for his 2^nd try of the game, the goal attempt from Kris Kirk hit the post and bounced back infield, but Albion had increased their lead to 13 – 2 in the 42^nd minute.

From the restart Moor had Albion under pressure with Dean Arundal and Andy Robinson making in roads into Albion last quarter but a mixture of good defending and sloppy handling saw their work come to nothing. On the 51^st minute a good passage of play by Moor that covered some 50 metres saw Andy Delaney score a try in the corner, the goal attempt was of target but they had pulled 4 points back to give a score of Albion 13 – Moor 6.

The scoring of this try from Albions point of view was overshadowed by the loss of both influential half backs John Gwilliam and Danny Horne through injury and neither was able to return to the field of play again. The changes to the formation of the team seemed to unsettle them and they had to dig deep in defence to keep the rampant Moor at bay. As the game came into the final 10 minutes lapses in concentration crept in, and in this period Moor took their chances firstly when Dean Arundal started a move on the half way line and finished up scoring under the posts Andy Robinson made no mistake with the goal kick that saw the score line of Albion 13 – Moor 12 in the 73^rd minute.

Albions Chris Hogg tried to take the game to the Moor on several occasions but was denied a score, it was not going to be Albions day as Moors Carl Riley split Albions defence to score a try under the posts, Andy Robinson tagging on the 2 points to give Moor the winning points as the final whistle went it was Albion 13 points- Dewsbury Moor 18 points.

Once again Albion had dominated the game for long periods but had failed to make the chances become points. If the first half had been Albions, the 2^nd had been Moors. Andy Delaney took the Man of the Match award for Moor; John Gwilliam was Albions Man of the Match although he only played for 51minutes, closely followed by Chris Hogg. Next week Albion travel to Crosfields at Warrington with a 2-30 pm Kick Off.

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