From Mud to Squeaky Clean 4G in Keighley - u12’s just lose out

After the trench-like conditions of the previous week, there was a sigh of huge relief from the “kit-washers” amongst the crowd that the superb 4G artificial (but very real!) Keighley pitch would give some respite to the district’s washing machines.
Bees arrived with high hopes captained by the “Flying Beesman” Charlie S and vice-captain, Harry “Houdini” W. The first 15 minutes got off to a solid start with some early shuddering tackles from Thomas “Warhorse” DB, Curley “The Tank” and Jacob “The Pocket Rocket” DW. The first scrum materialised after a knock on - a Bees put in which led to a nice run by George “Bite-yer-legs” Williams. A spilled ball midfield was scooped up by Fernando “The Galactico” who sold an outrageous couple of dummies with accompanying body swerves to carve through the Keighley defence to score a quality try, 0-1 to Bees. This good start soon evaporated after some sloppy tackling led to a unopposed Keighley equaliser. The Galactico led the fightback with some fine work and Josh “Slowhand” C made a great drive forwards. Keighley though were up for the battle and scored shortly afterwards, edging forward 2-1 on the board.
The restart saw a fine catch by James “The Red-Amber and Black Engine” who steamed forward to gain territory. The rest of the team however appears to be left in the sidings - this disorganisation saw Keighley get another try, 3-1 the score. Keighley appeared hungrier and unrest was rumbling amongst the Bees crowd. You always know the situation is somewhat critical when Rodolpho (Galactico Senior) starts getting heated up shouting all manner of instructions in Spanish. Most of the team it must be noted (for some strange reason) actually comprehend this better than English! Meanwhile, the Beesman was on an express-like run when he unluckily knocked-on. A super little concerto of play followed with a mazy run by Jacob “The Pocket Rocket” who passed accurately to “Bite-yer-legs” Williams, who offloaded to the Beesman who scored in the right hand corner. 3-2 to Keighley after the first 1/3 of the match.
The break saw “Boss Senior”, Chris Hogg, the coach, deliver a few home truths around commitment and tackling, however the second period saw Bees pinned back by Keighley on their own line, a kick upfield released the pressure. George Fryers was superb in support, picking up and releasing Thomas “The Warhorse” to make ground, who then passed to Josh “Slowhand” C who was unluckily halted a couple a metres short of the try-line. Bees were responding well and shortly afterwards there was jubilation when Jacob “The Pocket Rocket” - on another one of his show-stopping mazy runs crossed the line to level the scores, 3-3. Again on the restart, Bees were under pressure as “Bite-yer-legs” Williams toiled hard to get upfield. A kick and chase saw the “Beesman” hurtling upfield to tackle the Keighley recipient hard, Nathan “Boss” Hogg was in support and was unlucky to get bundled into touch. The Beesman was also held up short and this did exemplify Keighley’s fine defence and organisation. The next few minutes were all Keighley’s after Bees decided to sun themselves on the 4G as Keighley ran in a couple of unopposed soft tries. 5-3 to Keighley. Further Bees chaos after the restart led to a further Keighley try and the Bees finished this 1/3 of the game 6-3 down. Some home truths delivered during the break led to a change in fortunes and attitude in the final 1/3. There was a slight delay after an injury to a Keighley player. Once the game restarted, Thomas “Warhorse” DB made a richter-shuddering tackle on his opposite number, the ball became available to Bees, “Bite-yer-legs” Williams stormed off, passed to Josh “Slowhand” who passed to the Beesman who scored a super try in the corner, 6-4 to Keighley, game on! The fun continued with George F again in the action passing to The Galactico who scored another making his brace, narrowing the score to 6-5. Keighley battled well on the restart, the ball was turned over to the Bees, with James making a huge effort moving forward, the outcome being the Beesman levelling the scores to 6 a piece.
In the final moments, Bees were on the rampage, with Harry “Houdini”, Beesman and Galactico in a interchange of play which sent Josh “Slowhand” on his way, only to get tackled into touch. Keighley then launched a wedge-like 3 man battering ram which proved effective until it hit the Bees defence. Keighley pulled forward making it 7-6 and were unlucky not get another only to be thwarted by “Bite-yer-legs” who touched down behind his own line. A drop-out for Bees got them upfield and out of the clean 4G mire! Some dissent and ungentlemanly words from a Keighley player towards Referee Watts lost them further ground as they were marched back for the misdemeanour. The Warhorse DB drove on however the ball was recycled in Keighley’s favour and they scored making the score an unassailable 8-6. That’s how it finished - Man of the Match was awarded to Fernando “The Galactico” for his mesmeric skill. The Attitude Award went to Nathan “Boss” Hogg for battling away, even though he wasn’t very well but still managed to turn out.
Cheers to Referee Watts, the coaches, parents and players. Next fixture TBC at the time of writing.