Saturday 23rd September 2001
Pennine League Division 3
Silsden Rangers 6 Keighley Albion 60

Albion's second string travelled to Silsden to face a side that only a month earlier had given the 1st team a strong run for their money in the Tommy Holmes final.  With 17 first team players on duty at Cougar Park it didn't look good for the second team's prospects.  Added to this the recent injury problems the 'A' team did well to also put out 17.

However Albion set out their stall thoroughly in the opening minutes.  Ferocious defence, lead volubly by Mark Kellet and Danny Bowness, meant that the first Silsden set of 6 tackles only advanced them 10m up the pitch.  The Albion drives by the back row combination of Craig Livock, Scott Belamy and Andy Parker were cutting through the feebler Silsden defence.  Despite this Silsden had the first scoring opportunity on 5 minutes when a lapse of discipline gave Wayne McComb the chance to slot over a penalty.  The kick just drifted wide.

The Keighley side were not to be denied for long, Bobby Brown took in an innocuous looking drive, burst through the defensive line and then won the 70m sprint to the posts. Dean Condren added the kick.  Shortly after Simon Marsden broke down the wing on a 40m break.  From this platform Bobby Brown created the space to give Roger Simpson a half-chance in front of the posts and the strong centre bulldozed his way over.  Dean Condren again converted to put Albion 12 points up after 12 minutes play.

Albion continued to press the home side strongly.  Simon Marsden nearly went in at the corner but he couldn't reach the difficult long pass.  However on the last tackle Paul Fryers skipped through indifferent tackling to cross in the corner.  The kick was missed but the visitors were leading 0-16 after 17 minutes play.  Soon after Gary Baxter was put in at the corner by an astute Andy Parker pass but the referee correctly spotted an offence of obstruction prior to this.

Silsden were still going nowhere, this was epitomised when a loose ball was hacked forward straight into the arms of full back Dean Condren.  He made 30m before off-loading to Paul Fryers who released winger Simon Marsden on a 50m break to the tryline.  No conversion but it was clear at that stage that the points wouldn't be needed.  To round off the scoring in the first half Andy Parker ran across the tiring Silsden defence and dropped off Craig Livock who strolled over.  With Mark Kellet's conversion that made the score at the break 0-26.

The home side started in a better frame of mind and started getting the ball towards the Albion line.  Their first foray was thwarted by Mark Kellet who scored an amazing 90m interception try, the conversion attempt was missed.  However after this a scrum near to the visitors line gave Silsden the reward of a try to Ivan Tuff and Wayne McComb converted.  This was Silsden's only score and after this short spell Albion took over the game completely.

On 53 minutes Chris Atkins went down the wing and just before being bundled into touch released Simon Marsden for an unconverted try.  Andy Parker and Roger Simpson combined down the middle with Parker then releasing Condren who put Simon Marsden in for his hat-trick.  The conversion was missed again.

Tries still came freely.  Bobby Brown put Craig Livock into a gap and Roger Simpson benefitted from his close support by scoring under the posts.  Chris Brookes converted this one.  On 61 minutes Danny Bowness released Simon Marsden again, the winger was stopped by the full back but gave Richard Hollins an easy try under the posts.

Albion were having trouble with conversions, trying different kickers, and this attempt in front of the posts caused a forward to step up with the words.  "I'll take this, I want my name in the paper".  However he hit the post so no mention.

In the last 15 minutes Albion scored 3 more tries, all unconverted, Simon Marsden shot down the wing to make it four for him.  Marsden could have had 5 but he was held just short and slipped the ball out to the waiting Bobby Brown who jogged over.  Finally Andy Parker wrapped up the scoring when the defence dissolved in front of him.

In a team performance that scores 13 tries and 4 conversions, whilst only conceding one try, it is difficult to single out any players.  However Mark Kellet was outstanding and rightly received the most votes for the Player's Player award.  Adam Lilley also deserves a mention for his outstanding workrate at prop.

Next weekend the 'A' team have no match.  
Tim Cooper

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