Keighley Cougars 23 North Wales Crusaders 22

PAUL March was pleased his side managed to eek out a dramatic late victory against Crusaders thanks to a last-gasp drop goal from Danny Jones.

Cougars were on the back foot for much of the first half and trailed 18-6 at the break.

But Keighley mounted a comeback after the interval, which saw Jones – who had been presented an award for passing the 1,000 points mark before the game – clinch the spoils at the death.

March said: “I thought we started the game well and the momentum changed from which they scored three quick tries and deserved their half-time lead.

“But we put the practices we talk about in training and before games into our performance and ground out the win, even if it did have to wait until the last kick of the game.”

Cougars took the lead when Paul Handforth weaved through three attempted tackles.

Crusaders levelled when Kevin Penny took a Jono Smith offload and raced 50 metres to score under the posts.

They grabbed a second as Jamie Dallimore’s kick was taken by Rob Massam to give the Wrexham-based outfit the lead.

Crusaders' dominance continued when a space was left open in the defensive line, allowing Smith to flop over the line.

Jamie Bloem disallowed two Keighley tries prior to the interval, with Danny Lawton’s effort ruled out for offside and Ash Lindsay deemed to have been held up, despite him appearing to ground the ball.

Ninety seconds into the second half, David March received an elbow to the face which led to the incident being placed on report after a minor scuffle.

Handforth dribbled the ball 30 metres to touch down for his second of the afternoon, yet a Tommy Johnson penalty put daylight between the sides.

Andy Gabriel closed the gap to four with his first professional try after a James Feather break.

Handforth then thought he had won the game when he fought over for his hat-trick to open up a two-point lead but Penny was caught with a high tackle from which Johnson slotted over to bring the sides level.

However, Jones was the hero when, after the hooter had sounded and under immense pressure from two diving North Wales defenders, he coolly put the one-pointer over to seal the most dramatic of victories.