KEIGHLEY Cougars fell to a shock 30-20 defeat at League One strugglers Coventry Bears.

The home side began with fire in their bellies and took an early two-try lead.

The first saw Hayden Freeman break down Keighley's right and use the option on the blind side to send Mikey Russell in to score.

From the restart, the Cougars failed to switch on and fell victim to a show and go from Brad Delaney, who put the ball on a plate for Chris Barratt to touch down.

Keighley were trying to force things to get back into the game but some Bears indiscipline on the half-hour mark saw the visitors open their account as Nathan Conroy burrowed his way to the line from close range.

They closed the gap to two points shortly before the interval as Dan Parker got the ball away under pressure into the hands of the Harry Aaronson, who dived over.

The opening to the second half was a tight affair and it was no surprise that Coventry opted to take two points with a penalty from Paul Emanuelli following a high tackle.

And Bears kept coming at their visitors as they added two quickfire tries, the first of which saw Russell score his second after picking an audacious offload from the tackle out of the air.

From the restart, a clever kick by Emanuelli caught the defence cold and Jacob Ogden took full advantage to round in behind the uprights.

A short kick-off by the Cougars brought them a try, Mike Emmett and Matthew Bailey linking up for the latter to send a great offload out to Harvey Hallas, who bulldozed his way over.

Keighley set up the grandstand finish with six minutes left as Benn Hardcastle’s delayed pass exposed a gap in the defensive line from which Parker raced through to score.

But an Emanuelli penalty and a third Russell try after the hooter sealed the win for Coventry and brought Keighley crashing down to earth after their win over Oldham the previous week.