Betfred League One

Coventry Bears 30

Keighley Cougars 20

KEIGHLEY Cougars fell to a shock defeat at Betfred League One strugglers Coventry Bears.

The defeat sent the Cougars crashing back down to earth just a week on from their sensational victory over Oldham at Cougar Park.

And the result left head coach Craig Lingard questioning the attitude and desire of his players post-match.

“To say I’m disappointed is an understatement,” fumed Lingard.

“After the effort and the performance we put in last Friday against Oldham and the desire and attitude that we had, there was just absolutely none of that.

“The attitude of the lads was all wrong for me, they showed up expecting to win this game and I said those exact words to them in the dressing room after the game.

“They turned against Oldham because they know if you don’t then you’ll get pumped and they turned up today expecting to play at 50 per cent of their potential and win.

“Unfortunately, you can’t do that against any team because if you do then you end up with the performance I got today.

“You’ve got to congratulate Coventry, though, on their performance and their victory because they thoroughly deserved that.

“They showed everything that we did against Oldham last week and we clearly did not bring any of that to the party.

“Positives we can take from this? Absolutely none.”

With the Cougars' new owner looking on, it was 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.

And the Cougars had the opportunity to take the lead into the break but Benn Hardcastle’s pass failed to find the hands of both Scott Law and Kieran Moran close to the line.

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.

The visitors then thought they had got back within touching distance of the Bears but Hamish Barnes effort was ruled out through a controversial forward pass call.

Keighley set up the grandstand finish with six minutes left as 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.

PLAYER RATINGS:

COUGARS: Aaronson 5; Dixon 5; Leeming 6; Barnes 5; Gabriel 5; Parker 5; Hardcastle 5; Hallas 5; Cullimore 5; Bailey 5; Griffin 5; Rawlins 5; Emmett 5. Subs: Law 6; Conroy 5; Kenga 6; Moran 5.

BEARS: Russell 8; Freeman 7; Ogden 5; Pearce-Paul 7; Carter 5; Emanuelli 7; Delaney 6; Vitalini 5; Williams 6; Lloyd-Jones 6; Sherratt 5; Barratt 6; Davis 5. Subs: Geurtjens 5; Morley-Samuels 5; Stewart 5; Aldred 5.

COUGARS: Tries: Conroy (30); Aaronson (39); Hallas (63); Parker (74). Goals: Hardcastle (2/3); Parker (0/1)

BEARS: Tries: Russell (7, 59, 80); Barratt (9); Ogden (61). Goals: Emanuelli (5/7)

ATTENDANCE: 303

REFEREE: Joe Stearne (Castleford)