University of Gloucestershire All Golds 24, Cougars 48

PAUL March admitted he was disappointed with his Cougars side despite the victory which secured a top-two finish in Kingstone Press League One.

March said: "I thought we took a step back and I'll be looking for the defence to tighten up next week because that's how you win play-off football, which starts following the Hemel game."

The Cougars managed to finally break a resolute Gloucestershire defence when Paul Handforth's clever grubber to the corner was collected and touched down by Paul White.

But the home side hit back immediately when Rikki Sheriffe knocked on the restart and Phil Cowburn found room down the right wing to send Ryan Pywell diving over.

The hosts took the lead when former Keighley player Lee Mapals intercepted Liam Darville's pass and outpaced White to race the length of the field and score the try.

A tight opening 40 saw the lead change for a third time when Handforth's quick hands created space to put Brendon Rawlins in from a short pass.

White grabbed his second a couple of minutes later as the Cougars broke from the set following the kick-off after he had the score put on a plate from Rikki Sheriffe's lovingly executed pass.

The visitors were now chomping at the bit as White broke down the wing before offloading to Darville to get in next to the uprights.

Mapals managed to break away from White and David March before his suspect forward pass was touched down by Courtney Davies.

The aftermath of the decision by the official to send Handforth to the sin-bin for dissent appeared to unsettle the visitors when, on the hooter, the bounce of the ball wrong-footed many Cougars defenders, with Emmerson Whittel pouncing.

Andy Gabriel's recent fine try-scoring form continued as he showed great speed and trickery with his footwork to get in the corner before racing round to touch down under the posts.

Steve Parry kept his side within touching distance when he sold a fabulous dummy before offloading to Alex Davidson, who raced 20 metres to score behind the sticks.

The gap between the sides was back up to 12 points as Handforth's kick ended up back in his hands and he outstretched an arm to score.

Mapals was then sent to the bin for striking and, from the resulting penalty, James Feather scored, before Tyler Dickinson wrapped things up three minutes from time.