KEIGHLEY Cougars opened their Kingstone Press League One campaign with a comprehensive victory over the North Wales Crusaders.
A blistering first half display saw Craig Lingard’s side run in seven unanswered tries to set the platform for the afternoon.
Despite Cougars not touching the ball in the opening two minutes, Andy Gabriel intercepted a wild offload and raced 90 metres to score and from there his side never looked back.
Gabriel was over in the corner for his second shortly after after the North Wales defence had held Josh Tonks up over the line.
The lead was extended as Adam Ryder powered his way over from ten metres after using his head as a battering ram to knock Crusaders defenders away.
The game then turned into the Matty Beharrell show as the Cougars stand-off had a scintillating five-minute spell in which he ran rings round the visitors.
First he dived underneath the uprights after great work from Ritchie Hawkyard to break through the line and run half the length of the field.
Beharrell extended the lead to 26 points as he sold a great dummy to an onrushing tackler before sidestepping around him and scoring a fine try.
It was turning into a long afternoon for Mike Grady’s side and it seemed to be getting longer when Ryder broke down the left flank and offloaded inside to the supporting Tonks who couldn’t be stopped.
Despite picking up a knock, Beharrell reached the peak of his powers once more as he aimed a cross kick to Vinny Finigan who picked it out of the air before touching down.
The heavy pitch was taking a lot out of the players in the second half as the scoring slowed.
Cougars did get the scoreboard moving again when the ball was worked across the right channel to Danny Lawton who made no mistake. It was a try similar to the one he scored in the previous game.
North Wales did get some points on the board as the Cougars defence switched off twice to allow Earl Hurst and Tommy Johnson to score.
The final say went to Lingard’s side. Ryder powered over once more to take the Cougars tally to the half-century.
The RFL have charged nine players following the violent scenes that marred Keighley Cougars Ladbrokes Challenge Cup win over Fryston.
The players charged are:
Adam Rothwell (Fryston) – Grade A Punching
Davey Dixon (Keighley) – Grade A Punching
Andy Speake (Fryston) –- Grade D Running in and Punching
Emmerson Whittel (Keighley) – Grade C Running in and Punching
Sean Gee (Fryston) – Grade F Running in and Punching
Ben Strong (Fryston) – Grade C Running in and Punching
Steve Scott (Fryston) – Grade F Running in and Punching
Steve Scott (Fryston) – Grade F Kicking
Craig Jones (Fryston) – Grade B Running in and Punching
Jack Lee (Fryston) –- Grade B Entering field without permission
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