ST JOSEPH’S suffered an agonising 12-10 Premier League defeat at home to Siddal.

In a game where both defences were on top, the home side started brightly, with winger Richard Aka and centre Ben Lewis looking dangerous.

Aka came closest to opening his side’s account when he broke from deep and was halted just 10 yards from the Siddal line, and this was followed by an excellent break from second-row Rob Joyce.

The deadlock was finally broken just on the stroke of half time when Siddal crossed under the posts and landed the conversion to make it 6-0 at the break.

Coach Keith Senior’s half-time team talk seemed to do the trick when two early Joe’s tries were scored by Aka and full-back Shaun Mitchell. Both of these were as a result of good work from stand-off Neil Barrett, who also landed one of the conversions.

That gave the home side a 10-6 advantage, but with 10 minutes remaining Siddal struck for a second time and again added the extras to nudge two points ahead.

Joe’s had two good opportunities to at least get a draw when they were awarded two close-range penalties which unfortunately Barrett missed, and the men from Fartown were left to reflect on a game that got away.

Man-of-the-match for Joe’s was hooker Adam Illingworth, who was pushed all the way by second-row forward Alex Brown and Aka.

A depleted Emley Moor produced a battling display before going down 14-8 at Keighley Town in Division I.

Such was the stretched nature of the squad that at one stage the visitors were down to 11 men as injuries began to take their toll.

But they were still able to produce a strong all-round team performance and remained in the hunt throughout, with a try from Dave Pawson and two goals from Karl Adamski.