Keighley Cougars 36 Keighley Amateur Select XIII 0

COUGARS head coach Craig Lingard was pleased to give his reserve players some experience as his side wrapped up their pre-season campaign with a hard-fought victory at home to a Keighley Amateur Select side.

Muddy and wet conditions were the order of the day in the first Peter Fell Memorial Game to be played for six years, leading to an error-strewn game which was not helped by the referee.

But Lingard was impressed by the amateurs – drawn from Keighley Albion, Worth Village and West Craven and also including Keighley RUFC's former Cougars pair Alfie Seeley and Joe Copperwaite – particularly during the first half before they inevitably tired after the break.

He said: “It wasn’t the best of games in regards to entertainment.

“It was a good hit-out for some of our younger players and handed the reserves experience playing alongside some of the senior professionals.

“It was difficult to stand out and most of the game was played mainly up the middle and 'one-up rugby' for most of the game in conditions which were that poor.

“The game was error ridden and the select side controlled the ball really well in the first half, which showed with their completion rate which was really good in the conditions."

Lingard used the match to give first-team debuts to nine of his reserves squad.

He said: "The match showed the importance of having a reserves side. It was difficult for them to step up, having not trained with the first team, but now they’ve had a taste of first team rugby hopefully they’ll kick on now and put their hands up.”

Cougars felt hard done by when Ritchie Hawkyard and Adam Brook both pounced on the latter’s grubber kick underneath the posts but the official pulled play back for a Cougars scrum after consulting with his touch judge.

Hawkyard, however, did open the scoring from the resulting scrum for the first half's only real moment of note as he took Brook’s offload from five metres out and raced around behind the posts.

As the weather and the pitch continued to worsen, Cougars ran in six second-half tries.

Debutant hooker Jack Clover found a way over the Amateur Select line when he saw space from the play-the-ball to dive over from dummy half.

Carl McGuigan was held up over the line by the amateurs, who deserve credit for how they acquitted themselves, having been put together at a month’s notice to face their semi-professional opponents. The manner in which they controlled the ball was impressive.

However, they fell further behind as Josh Casey backed himself from 20 metres and bundled his way over the line.

Sean Kelly – in just his third game following an 18-month lay-off – added his side’s fourth try when he barged his way over from a pass from dummy half.

Cougars' fitness began to show and their lead was extended further as player-coach Rikki Sheriffe dived over after the amateurs had narrowly held out Neil Cherryholme.

Harry Aaronson was next to cross, with the full back taking a wild offload from the mud and sidestepping two oncoming tacklers to race through from 30 metres, weaving his way over in the process.

On the final hooter, Cougars wrapped up the scoring on an awful afternoon for rugby league as they worked the ball down the left-hand channel to Vinny Finigan, who went over in the corner.