Keighley Cougars 44 Workington Town 34

IT MAY have done little for his nerves but coach Craig Lingard was pleased to see Cougars get off to a winning start in a thrilling encounter.

A breathless opening 80 minutes of the season saw Keighley seal victory with late tries through Benn Hardcastle and Andy Gabriel against a resilient Cumbrian side, for whom Super League great Leon Pryce was making his bow in charge.

“If you’d have had a heart monitor on me during that second half it would have been off the scale,” admitted a relieved Lingard.

Cougars enjoyed a commanding 30-16 lead at half-time but the visitors came back strongly early in the second half to close the gap to 30-28 before the hosts regained control.

“It was in essence a game that we had to win twice," said Lingard. "I said to the lads at half-time that we had the game won but we had to then win it again.

“We said at half-time the first 10 minutes of the second half were going to be crucial because Workington were going to come at us again, so all we had to do was control the play and control field position, but we made four really sloppy unforced errors.

“As a result we spent most of that first 20 minutes after the break camped on our line, and let Workington back into the game and added fuel to their fire.

“We’ve talked about learning lessons through pre-season and Sunday taught us we still have a lot more to learn.”

Half-back Hardcastle showed why Lingard was keen to sign him during the off-season from Newcastle Thunder.

The head coach said: “I’m really delighted with the performance of Benn and it justifies bringing a player of his calibre and quality to the club. Again, he just highlighted what an outstanding player he is and has been through pre-season."

Town opened the scoring in the second minute when, on the back of a penalty, quick hands from former Bull Jamie Foster sent Gordon Maudling crashing over in the corner.

Keighley then took the lead with two quickfire tries, the first of which saw Harry Aaronson dive in at the corner after great work by Hamish Barnes.

Then on the back of a Foster knock-on, Matty Beharrell’s quick pass opened the space to send Matthew Bailey over next to the posts.

Workington got back into the game in controversial circumstances when, after a knock-on by Stevie Scholey was missed by the officials, Carl Forber took advantage of the confusion to score unchallenged.

The Cougars extended their lead once more, however, when Josh Lynam managed to keep control of the ball and stretch an arm over the line.

Town wouldn’t go down without a fight though and got back to within two points yet again as Kurt Maudling raced beneath the uprights after the home side failed to deal with a Scott Leatherbarrow kick.

But Lingard’s side had a comfortable advantage at half-time after another two quick tries.

Beharrell raced round the posts after Scott Law offloaded out of the tackle before Gabriel intercepted and raced 90 metres on the sound of the hooter.

Workington had the first score of the second half when Forber spotted the numbers advantage on the overlap and put Joe Hambley over in the right-hand corner.

And Pryce’s side got themselves right back into the game when Gordon Maudling powered his way over for his second of the afternoon.

It appeared that the Cougars had the game won after a brief Hardcastle masterclass.

The half first cut through the Town defence like a knife through butter to grab a try before taking the two points on offer from 30 metres out.

Town set up a grandstand finish though as Sean Penkywicz burrowed his way over from close range.

Just seconds before the final hooter sounded though, a wild pass was plucked out the air by Gabriel who raced home for his brace to seal the victory.

PLAYER RATINGS

COUGARS: Hawkyard 7; Aaronson 8; Barnes 7; Ryder 6; Gabriel 9; Hardcastle 9; Beharrell 7; Tahraoui 7; Conroy 8; Bailey 7; Lynam 8; Rawlins 7; Emmett 6. Subs: Law 6; Wright 7; Hallas 6; Nicholson 6.

TOWN: Foster 6; Hambley 5; Akehurst 6; Singleton 5; Forrester 5; Leatherbarrow 6; Forber 6; Wilkes 5; Penkywicz 6; Scholey 5; G Maudling 7; K Maudling 5; Bailey 5. Subs: Newton 6; Dawson 5; Ryan 5; Barnes 5.