KEIGHLEY Cougars emerged 26-18 victors through a second-half comeback against Doncaster that would have moved them top of League One if not for their 12-point deduction.

A breathless first half hour appeared to set the tone for the afternoon with the lead changing now fewer than five times.

Keighley didn’t get off to the best of starts as Matt Welham knocked on the kick-off to hand Doncaster a dropout.

From the resulting set, Menzie Yere powered his way over through two defenders for the afternoon’s first score.

Keighley responded well, though, and from their first set of six on the afternoon, Jack Miller broke the line to send the supporting Macauley Hallett racing home next to the uprights.

The visitors re-took the lead though as Jason Tali walked home in the corner after great work from Matty Chrimes to break and weave through the defence.

Cougars, though, took the lead again once more as Benn Hardcastle used a lovely show and go to his advantage to burrow home beneath the posts.

Tali though got his second off the afternoon to give the Dons the lead yet again, handing off a would be tackler to get to the line.

The Dons extended their lead further as Elliott Townsend showed great strength from close range to score.

Matty Chrimes thought he had created breathing space for the visitors, but his try was ruled out for a forward pass from Liam Harris.

The second-half saw the Cougars come out firing and they levelled the scoreboard through a superb solo effort from debutant Taylor Prell.

The winger took a kick in the air superbly and showed great speed to break and race 95 metres to the line.

Craig Lingard’s side then took the lead themselves for a third time.

A grubber from Hardcastle bounced up kindly into the arms of the onrushing Dan Parker who crashed home under the sticks.

Doncaster came close through a Connor Bower grubber but the ball proved too fast for Tali to touch down.

Then, Russ Spiers was penalised for a dump tackle six minutes from time and Hardcastle took the two on offer, and converted, to seal the win.