Keighley Cougars 32 North Wales Crusaders 6

Cougars banished the heartache of losing the previous week's promotion decider at Oldham to secure their place in the League One Play-Off Final.

The absence of club captain James Feather due to his wedding abroad had dominated the build-up but the home side ensured their rugby was the main talking point of the afternoon as they set up a clash with Swinton Lions.

An impressive second-half display on the back of a tightly-fought first half put Keighley through to the showpiece event in Widnes next Sunday.

The home side broke the deadlock in the fourth minute when, after relentless North Wales pressure, Paul White intercepted an Andrew Oakden offload before racing 90 metres unchallenged to score under the posts.

Both sides squandered numerous chances to get over the whitewash but the visitors made sure they were level 6-6 at half-time as Paul Handforth’s kick went straight into the hands of Alex Thompson and the forward raced half the length of the pitch to go over.

The half finished in controversial fashion when the hooter sounded but the referee allowed the set to continue and, when Handforth slotted over a one-pointer from close range, the touch judge disallowed the effort.

The second period was a completely different story as an injury-ravaged Crusaders side began to run out of steam. A ruthless Keighley display blew the Welsh side off the park to end their season a week earlier than they'd hoped.

Adam Mitchell’s switch of direction wrong-footed the North Wales defence and a series of quick offloads across the face of the line dragged Andrew Oakden in off his wing to allow White a walkover in the corner.

Oakden gifted the home side another try, and White his hat-trick, when the Jamaican international winger picked up the spilled ball and got over to break through the 30-try barrier for the season.

Keighley were brimming with confidence as Handforth carved his way through, ducking and diving through many tackle attempts before offloading to Matthew Bailey to score his second try in as many weeks.

The game as a contest was over three minutes later as player-coach Paul March silenced his doubters within the Cougar Park faithful, battling his way over on the last to score.

Samir Tahraoui was held up by five defenders before Jamie Dallimore threw David March to the ground, the touch judge’s intervention preventing things taking a nasty turn.

Andy Gabriel, who last week broke Nick Pinkney’s club record in scoring tries in nine consecutive games, extended that to ten as he took advantage of a spill before strolling over much to the delight of the Keighley crowd.

Cougars now head to Widnes, hoping to overcome bogey side Swinton Lions, who beat York City Knights 18-17 in the other semi-final, and secure promotion in memory of Danny Jones, who died playing for Keighley earlier in the season.