Rochdale Hornets 42 Keighley Cougars 28

COUGARS' hopes of a top-four League One finish ahead of the Super 8s were ended as they fell to a third consecutive defeat.

Keighley got off to the worst possible start after the bounce of the kick-off caught out Josh Lynam. Three consecutive Hornets sets followed, with James Tilley eventually exposing a gap to dive over next to the uprights.

Cougars were their own worst enemy in defence again and after conceding a penalty, they went further behind when Benjamin Julien broke through and raced the ball underneath the posts.

On the back of another penalty, Hornets played the ball across the face of the line and Wayne English went over from Jordan Case’s offload.

Then Hornets punished Cougars down the right edge as English broke and, despite losing his footing, got the offload away to Dale Bloomfield, who charged home from ten metres out.

Keighley finally got on the scoreboard in the 32nd minute when Ross Peltier threw a great sidestep to sell his tackler short and race 30 metres to dive over behind the sticks.

But Rochdale took a 20-point lead into the interval though when Paul Crook converted after a contentious high tackle call against Lynam.

Following a slow start to the second half, Crook converted another two points from a ball steal before Jono Smith extended the home side's lead further as he went through Keighley like a steam train.

There was a rare moment of joy for the visitors when from the play-the-ball, James Feather squeezed out of a tackle to touch down.

Tom Lineham, on dual-registration from Warrington, weaved his way through Cougars before offloading to Ben Moores, who, despite a slight juggle, went in beneath the sticks.

But from the restart, the bounce was kind to Keighley and, after Jonny Campbell was denied in the corner, Charlie Martin put in a big hit on Moores for the steal to touch down.

Keighley threatened a comeback in the final ten minutes, with both Martin and Brendon Rawlins scoring either side of Tilley being sin-binned for a professional foul.

However, Julien assured the points for Rochdale when he dived in at the corner with three minutes left.