Eagles soaring after win over Keighley Cougars (From Keighley News)

Sheffield Eagles soaring after win over Keighley Cougars

6:00am Saturday 21st July 2012 in Sport By Ross Heppenstall, Bradford Bulls Reporter

Sheffield Eagles 16 Keighley Cougars 6

Jason Demetriou took the positives after Cougars slipped to a narrow defeat at the hands of high-flying Sheffield at the Don Valley Stadium last night.

The Eagles, who climbed to second in the Co-operative Championship with their victory, never looked back after full back Quentin Laulu-Togagae gave them a fifth-minute lead with a try.

He added a second before half-time and, with winger Vinny Finigan also touching down and Simon Brown kicking two goals, the home side led 16-0.

Jamaine Wray pulled a try back for the Cougars eight minutes from the end, converted by Danny Lawton, but it was not enough.

Demetriou refused to be downbeat after the low-scoring encounter but was left to bemoan his side’s slow start.

The Cougars player-coach said: “There were a lot of good things to come out of the game and defensively I thought we were outstanding.

“The start killed us. We kicked the ball out on the full from the very first kick-off and didn’t touch the ball for the next six sets.

“Although we defended well, it took a lot of juice out of us and that’s when we conceded the points.

“In saying that, the referee was poor. We just couldn’t get any ruck speed and every 50-50 call went against us.

“They were getting away with things that we weren’t getting away with. But defensively we were very good.”

Demetriou felt the officials played a major role in the outcome of the game.

He added: “The play-the-balls were so slow and that slowed the whole game down for both sides.

“For me, the referee had an influence on how slow the game was and that’s disappointing.”