A brief glance at the Yorkshire League One table will tell you that all teams have played ten games, apart from two. They are Keighley and Harrogate Pythons, who played each other on Keighley’s all-weather pitch yesterday, when all other fixtures in their league and many others were postponed, due to the freezing temperature. Though the pitch was clearly playable, conditions were not comfortable for spectators (and ickledot) - several layers being required to counter the intense cold.
Quite a few league places separate the two clubs; Keighley being close to the top and Harrogate a similar distance from the bottom. The last two occasions ickledot photographed the Pythons they’d won comfortably, so it was a bit of a surprise to see them struggling. This is no doubt due to a couple of promotions in recent years.
Judging by the first half though, the visitors were more capable than their league position would suggest. After 40 minutes the home side was leading only by a penalty, with both having scored a try.
It was so close that ickledot chose to stay at the same end to photograph the Pythons’ attack in the second half. This proved to be unwise as Keighley came alive in the second half, scoring several tries without reply from the visitors. They were a team transformed and Pythons were unable to respond.
After three of those tries, ickledot succumbed to the cold and headed home to beat the late afternoon Christmas traffic. However, he had amassed a satisfactory number of photographs, which you can see here.
Above: if ickledot read Keighley’s team sheet correctly, this was Max Wild on a penetrating run.