COUGARS Reserves were thrashed 78-6 at the hands of local rivals Halifax in their final pre-season friendly.

A tough evening at Cougar Park for Scott Lindsey’s young side was compounded by conceding 50 points before the interval against a strong Fax outfit which included eight first-team players.

Former Keighley player Adam Brook set up the first two tries for the visitors with a great quick pass to send Adam Newby over the line followed by a dummy which created the space for Morgan Punchard to race through and dive over.

The onslaught truly began with Will Calcott scoring from a free play following a knock-on by Jay Panter.

A further three tries in five minutes followed with Frazer Morris pouncing on a Brook grubber before Calcott raced behind the posts for his second and Jack Fairbank touched down despite appearing to knock-on while grounding.

Martin Gonzalez’s side were relentless and showed no signs of slowing down when Ashley Berry went alone to score despite having numbers available on the overlap.

Welsh international Sion Jones then brought the half to a close with a quickfire double, scooting over from a loose ball before racing 70 metres to touch down after breaking the Keighley line.

Despite the interval, Halifax were still firing on all cylinders and scored their tenth try of the evening as Conor McGrath broke the line to dive over in the corner.

Berry then sealed his brace as he weaved through the Cougars defence and rounded the full-back.

Interchange Jack Mead then got in on the act. After the defence halted McGrath, the winger got the ball away to Mead who turned his marker to score.

Jamie Stringer added his name to the scoresheet shortly after as the winger cut inside from the left wing and proceeded to work his way across the pitch to touch down at the right hand side of the posts.

Keighley did save some face as Matt Ross touched down after being the quickest to a free ball near to the line.

But Halifax had the final say as Chris Cullimore crossed from close range.

COUGARS: Panter, Smith, Scully, Murray, Barker, Smithson, Egerton-Sharp, Adams, Walters, Ross, Levy, Crotty, Reed. Subs: Darwin, Clarkson, McConville, Kinnaird, Harlow-Stephenson, Stubbs, Jackson.