KEIGHLEY Cougars fell to a heartbreaking 34-32 defeat at the death at the hands of Barrow Raiders at Cougar Park.

Chris Hankinson’s penalty after the hooter, following a contentious high tackle call against Brendon Rawlins, was the difference in a thrilling end-to-end game.

The Cougars took the lead early in the first half when Liam Darville worked the ball across to Paul White on the left wing, who walked home in the corner.

The Raiders then raced into a 12-point lead with a quick three tries in a ten minute period, with Ryan Fieldhouse scoring from a break and Jamie Dallimore getting the offload away to Hankinson from the restart for their second.

Dallimore continued to cause problems for the Cougars as he linked up with his forwards to get Eze Harper in at the corner.

But the Cougars wouldn’t lie down and pulled the scores level with Jonny Campbell first touching down a Paul Handforth grubber before Ross Peltier bulldozed his way over next to the posts.

Barrow would take the lead once more though as Dallimore weaved his way around Charlie Martin to squeeze over.

However, they finished the half with 12 men as Cameron Pitman was sent to the sin-bin for dissent.

From the resulting penalty, Handforth’s kick took a wicked bobble off the turf and fell to White who gratefully gobbled it up for his second of the afternoon.

Pitman returned from the bin in the second half and got himself on the scoresheet as he took the ball and went over with relative ease when he found five metres of free space greeting him as he took the pass.

Cougars made sure the game was still in the balance though as Fieldhouse and Martin had a sickening collision in mid-air and Rawlins was quickest to pounce for the four-pointer.

Liam Harrison restored his side’s six point lead as he found a gap in the defensive line to crash over but it wouldn’t be long before the game was in the balance once more as Andy Gabriel touched down from a free play.

The Cougars brought the scores level with Danny Lawton’s penalty but Hankinson’s kick at the death knocked Keighley out of the Kingstone Press League One play-off places.