Betfred League One

Workington Town 34

Keighley Cougars 12

KEIGHLEY Cougars fell to a third straight Betfred League One defeat after an away defeat to Workington Town.

An injury-hit Cougars had to play 65 minutes with depleted numbers after losing both Harvey Hallas and Hamish Barnes in the opening quarter of the game. Craig Lingard was left proud of the effort the players put in.

“We’re having to do it the hard way,” admitted the Cougars head coach.

“They ran out of steam towards the end of the game and we were doing it tough because we’ve got a lot of broken bodies out there.

“There were seven players unavailable and then you lose Harvey and Hamish in the first 15 minutes of the game and then I had to bring Benn Hardcastle off towards the end of the game as he couldn’t move.

“Then on top of that, you have players playing out of position. I had Mike Emmett having to play scrum-half and Josh Lynam out on the wing because he could only tackle with one arm.

“For 50 or 55 minutes we were in the game but you just run out of steam against a big tough Cumbrian pack that you get from a Workington team because of the broken bodies.

“But you can’t knock the effort the lads put in and I for one am proud.”

Keighley opened the scoring as Hardcastle surpassed 1,000 career points converting after the hosts were penalised for crossing.

But the lead lasted no more than two minutes as Oliver Wilkes broke through the Cougars line and put the ball on a plate for Sam Forrester for to cross.

Hardcastle’s goal kicking expertise was called upon, though, to level the scores and put the visitors back into the lead.

The first penalty came for lying on after the held call with the second following an offside call which led to an altercation between Stevie Scholey and Scott Law.

The Cougars half had the opportunity for another two points but his fourth penalty effort struck the uprights.

Workington were then reduced to 12 men for the remainder of the first-half after Jamie Doran saw yellow for persistent dissent.

Davey Dixon thought he had scored Cougars' first try but the touch judge ruled the winger had been put into touch.

It would be Town that led at the half-time interval, though, as Sean Penkywicz squeezed over from dummy half shortly before the hooter sounded.

The second-half started in Keighley’s favour as a Dan Parker grubber caused a moment of madness from Joe Hambley and the loose ball fell nicely for Aaron Levy to touch down.

The lead again, however, would prove to be short lived as Tyllar Mellor managed to just stay in touch under pressure from James Haynes to score in the corner.

And Workington got breathing space for the first time as Doran kicked the ball into acres of space for Elliot Miller to race on and touch down under no defensive pressure.

Leon Pryce’s side extended their lead further as another kick, this time for Carl Forber, produced a wicked bounce that wrong footed Harry Aaronson and allowed Miller the space to race in for a second.

Workington sealed the victory seven minutes from time as Miller scored his hat-trick try after great play by Forber to break the line.

And the Cumbrian side had enough time on the clock to put the icing on the cake as Fuifui Moimoi broke 60 metres and the scrambling Keighley defence couldn’t regroup in time for Doran to break through a tackle and score in the corner.

MATCH STATS:

PLAYER RATINGS: COUGARS: Hawkyard 6; Dixon 5; Haynes 6; Barnes 5; Aaronson 5; Parker 6; Hardcastle 6; Bailey 7; Feather 6; Hallas 5; Lynam 6; Leeming 6; Emmett 5. Subs: Law 6; Kenga 7; Cullimore 5; Levy 7.

TOWN: Forrester 6; Mellor 7; Miller 8; Morris 5; Hambley 5; Doran 6; Forber 5; Wilkes 5; Penkywicz 7; Curwen 5; Moore 5; G Maudling 5; Scholey 5. Subs: Newton 5; Dawson 5; K Maudling 5; Moimoi 6.

COUGARS: Tries: Levy (42). Goals: Hardcastle (4/5).

TOWN: Tries: Forrester (11); Penkywicz (38); Mellor (47); Miller (51, 62, 73); Doran (78). Goals: Forber (3/7). Sin Bin: Doran (31 – Dissent)

ATTENDANCE: 607

REFEREE: Michael Mannifield (Huddersfield)