KEIGHLEY Cougars rallied in the last 10 minutes to counter Workington Town’s comeback in a breathless game to finish 32-26 winners.

James Feather’s second try with three minutes to go saw the Cougars thwart Town’s rally in the second-half for a result that would have put the Cougars top without their 12-point deduction.

The Cougars came out firing from the start, making the most of Workington’s ill-discipline to race into a 16-0 advantage.

Benn Hardcastle took the two points on offer after Danny Tickle was penalised for a high tackle.

After Matt Welham came agonisingly short of the game’s opening try, Hardcastle himself would score after intercepting Jamie Doran’s pass to race 80 metres to touch down in the corner.

Keighley would extend their lead when after great work from Dan Parker to break down the middle, the ball was well worked through hands across to the wing where Taylor Prell dived home.

Parker himself would score, diving through a bus-sized gap after excellent play from Feather drew a Workington defender inside from the line.

Town got themselves on the board through Sam Hewitt, who took advantage of the numbers game after Stevie Scholey fought free to offload out of the tackle.

Hardcastle converted a second penalty on the sound of the hooter after Caine Barnes was sin-binned for dangerous play after a tackle on Parker who didn’t have possession of the ball.

After Jason Muranka came close, Workington were reduced to 12 men once again as Carl Forber talked himself into the sin-bin.

But the visitors levelled through two quick-fire tries as Hewitt forced his way over in the corner for a second before James Worthington crashed through a tackle to square up the scoreboard.

The turnaround appeared to be complete when Forber stepped his way through the defensive line to send former Cougar Oliver Wilkes crashing over.

Forber thought he had sealed victory after converting a penalty when Izaac Farrell was the victim of a high tackle.

But, the Cougars would score 14 points in five minutes to turn the tide and win the game.

Feather went through from dummy half to stretch over before Hardcastle took the two for a penalty for offside from the restart.

Feather sealed victory three minutes from time as he shot out of the line to blow the roof off Cougar Park.