Halifax Reserves 42 Keighley Cougars Reserves 24

COUGARS Reserves coach Scott Lindsey was left frustrated after a disastrous 20-minute second-half spell lead to defeat at Halifax.

The home side scored four tries in that period to blow Keighley away, who had been in contention up to that point.

Lindsey said: “I thought we were the better side in the first half and deserved to go into the half-time break in the lead.

“But we let ourselves down defensively in the second half and we had that 20 minutes where Halifax just blew us away and it’s the second consecutive week that we’ve punished ourselves like this.

“It’s three weeks now until our next fixture against Dewsbury and we’ve got a lot to work on.”

After Halifax had raced into an early lead through Jamie Stringer and James Woodburn-Hall, Cougars went ahead themselves as great footwork from Jamel Goodall got the young forward over before Liam Darville also crossed.

Halifax reclaimed the advantage after a second from Stringer before Jack Georgiou raced over under the posts. Darville crossed for his second on the hooter to send the sides into half-time level.

The second half started well for Lindsey’s side before they were punished in the crazy quarter of the game that would lead to defeat.

Gavin Bennion raced his way over beneath the sticks before grabbing a second five minutes later as he squeezed his way over between the uprights.

On the hour mark, Fax extended their lead further as a Nick Rawsthorne grubber bounced dangerously around the Cougars in-goal area, with the final touch appearing to come from Georgiou.

Rawsthorne was next to score when the home side broke from the Cougars line and passed the ball across the field in a full-length break, despite the best efforts of Darville and Lewis Davey.

Cougars had the final say nine minutes from time. Scott Lee showed clever footwork to weave his way around two attempted tackles to touch down.