Disappointing Dinnington are beaten by strugglers

Action involving Dinnington, who slumped to a surprise defeat at Keighley.

On a cold and windswept day, and on an artificial pitch, Dinnington slid to a 27-8 defeat against a home side who began the game next to bottom in the table with ten losses from 13 matches.

Keighley gained sweet revenge for defeat at the hands of their visitors earlier in the season. They had clearly learned from that game, repeatedly stifling Dinnington’s attacking options while creating more of a threat themselves.

The visitors made a bright enough start, but fell behind in the 15th minute when losing possession at a line out on their 22, allowing Keighley to crash over for the opening try.

Things got worse midway through the half when they lost the ball at a scrum and the hosts scored again to surge into a 12-0 lead.

Keighley continued to hold the upper hand and, after stealing the ball once more, they spread it wide to score a third try in the corner and move 17 points to the good with a quarter an hour of the opening period still to play.

As the weather gained more and more of an influence, handling errors crept into the play of both teams. But at last, Dinnington got on the scoresheet before the interval as Jonny West landed three points from a penalty.

The visitors then made the best possible start to the second half as Will Marshall picked the ball up at the back of a scrum to go over in the corner for their first try.

However, they failed to build on it and another blunder was soon leading to a Keighley penalty that extended their advantage to 20-8.

Dinnington went close twice more, but they also continued to make mistakes, and three minutes from time, the home team capitalised to break clear and complete the scoring.

The defeat left Dinnington ninth in the 14-team table as they go into their Christmas and New Year break. Their opening match of 2019 will be at home to fifth-placed Middlesbrough on Saturday, January 5 which should attract a decent-sized crowd.