KEIGHLEY Cougars' League One play-off hopes all but ended with a 20-6 defeat at London Skolars.

The fixture served as this year's Friday Night Lights, the traditional Challenge Cup final curtain raiser, but it resulted in the Cougars lights being turned out.

The tone for the evening was set in the opening 15 minutes as the Skolars ran in three unanswered tries as they took the game by the scruff of the neck and Craig Lingard was quick to make the point.

“The tone was set early, they run harder than us and they tackled stronger than us,” admitted the Keighley head coach.

“I questioned the guy’s toughness, their desire and their commitment at half-time and in the second-half they came out and give it a dig defensively.

“On that performance in the first 20 minutes you will have to say yes, the play-offs are no out of reach for us.

“Yes, we dug in and weren’t great but improved in the second-half but that doesn’t take away the performance in the first-half.

“It’s not great preparation when you are 40 minutes before kick-off and have eight players who have had to work and are still sat on the motorway but that’s something you’ve got to try and cope with.

“I had Dan Parker and Billy Gaylor playing out of position and we looked like a side with no half-backs, we were getting into good ball position and we looked clueless at times.

“We’re playing busted at the moment, we had no recognised half-backs or recognised centres out there and we lacked a lot of direction and you could tell.”

The game's opening score came through a contentious build-up as, despite an apparent forward pass in the build-up, Sam Nash broke through the Keighley line and used the man on the inside to send Mike Bishay through to score.

From the next London attack, Daymeric Pelo sold a beautiful dummy to two defenders to race through and dive over from close range.

And things didn’t get better for Lingard’s side as Nash this time went alone and managed to power his way over from close range.

Pelo then should have had a second on the evening but was denied by Aaron Levy who made a last-ditch tackle to prevent the second row from scoring.

But the home side extended their lead further through former Bradford Bulls ace Omari Caro, who intercepted a pass on his own line and proceeded to go the full length of the field unchallenged to score in the corner.

Bishay then dragged his drop goal attempt wide of the uprights shortly before the half-time hooter.

The second-half was scrappy and error strewn with the wet and windy conditions affecting the grip of the ball and forcing a total of 22 handling errors between the two sides throughout the 40 minutes.

Despite his superb first score, Pelo was not having much luck for the home side and knocked on even though he was over the line unchallenged on this occasion.

Caro was then denied his second in comedic circumstances as the winger kicked through Jermaine Coleman’s chip before losing his footing and colliding with the post as a try beckoned.

The Cougars then saved themselves the indignity of being nilled as hooker James Feather burrowed over from close range after the first real pressure of the evening on the London line.

Neil Thorman converted a penalty to wrap up the victory before Davey Dixon’s evening was ended early with a rib injury which saw the Cougars winger aided from the field.

MATCH STATS:

PLAYER RATINGS:

COUGARS: Hawkyard 7; Dixon 5; Seeley 5; Levy 5; Aaronson 5; Parker 5; Gaylor 5; Bailey 5; Feather 5; Moran 5; Lynam 5; Whittel 5; Emmett 5. Subs: Conroy 5; Rawlins 5; Kenga 6; Griffin 5.

SKOLARS: Fleming 5; Finigan 5; Nash 7; Juma 6; Caro 6; Bishay 6; Coleman 8; Martin 5; Thorman 7; Sykes 6; Williams 5; Pelo 7; Bryan 6. Subs: Ross 5; Butler 5; Greenhalgh 5; Driver 5.

COUGARS: Tries: Feather (71). Goals: Aaronson (1/1)

SKOLARS: Tries: Bishay (4); Pelo (7); Nash (11); Caro (29). Goals: Thorman (2/5)

ATTENDANCE:

REFEREE: Matt Rossleigh (London)

BETFRED LEAGUE ONE RESULTS: Bradford Bulls 18-24 Workington Town; Hemel Stags 0-50 North Wales Crusaders; London Skolars 20-6 Keighley Cougars; Newcastle Thunder 24-18 Oldham Roughyeds; West Wales Raiders 18-28 Coventry Bears; Whitehaven 14-23 Doncaster RL; York City Knights 48-6 Hunslet RL.

BETFRED LEAGUE ONE FIXTURES: Sunday, September 2: Bradford Bulls v Keighley Cougars; Doncaster v Newcastle Thunder; Hemel Stags v Whitehaven (2pm): Hunslet v London Skolars; North Wales Crusaders v West Wales Raiders (2.30pm); Oldham Roughyeds v Coventry Bears; Workington Town v York City Knights.