KEIGHLEY Cougars enjoyed their first win for nearly two months yesterday, as they put beleaguered North Wales Crusaders to the sword in the Betfred Championship.
There was a sense of doom swirling around the visitors ahead of their long trip up to Cougar Park, with vital funding having been pulled from the club a few days earlier.
With reports of players not being paid and refusing to train, there was a distinct possibility the game would not even go ahead.
But it did and there was still plenty of talent in the Crusaders’ ranks, like rugby league stalwarts Pat Ah Van and Greg Eden, former Bradford Bulls and St Helens prop Ant Walker, as well as an old Cougars favourite in Mark Ioane.
Yet with such a disrupted preparation, it was no surprise to see them come off second-best, particularly with Keighley finding their attacking groove.
In what turned out to be a total mismatch, the hosts won the game 66-10, jumping above North Wales and up to 11th in the 20-team table.
In keeping with the chaotic build up, the start of the match was delayed by nearly an hour yesterday, due to an issue with Keighley’s medical equipment.
Fortunately, that was eventually resolved, with the game kicking off around 3:45pm.
Cougars opened the scoring through young Leeds loanee Jacob Stead, the second row crossing the whitewash after 13 minutes, trialist half back Will Groves adding the extras.
North Wales responded quickly to reduce the deficit to 6-4, but once David Foggin-Johnston scored a converted try for the hosts with a quarter-of-an-hour left in the first half, the floodgates opened.
His fellow winger Brad Holroyd went over twice in three minutes soon after, with Keighley’s other young starting second row, George Hill, also getting on the scoreboard before half-time.
Cougars held a comfortable 26-4 lead at the break, with Emmanuel Waine adding to their advantage after 44 minutes.
They could not score again until the hour mark, but once Oliver Whitford crossed at that point for their seventh try, the hosts ran riot.
Alfie Dean, Holroyd, George Flanagan and Max Clarke, the latter with a thrilling interception try, all scored within the space of eight minutes as the hosts established a massive 60-4 lead.
A second try for North Wales saw them reach double figures and at least seemingly have the last word, but Whitford crossed at the death for Keighley’s 12th and final try.
Groves tagged on the extras after the hooter, ending his debut with an impressive nine conversions.
After the game, Keighley head coach Ian Hardman told the club’s in-house media team: “I’m really pleased.
“We showed big improvements from the week before (a 42-30 defeat to Hunslet on Easter Saturday), particularly defensively.
“We were also scored some well-constructed tries.
“Winning definitely breeds confidence and it’s rewarding the hard work the players have been putting in.
“That has produced a result like this one and this is something we’ll continue to do.”
Cougars face an almighty task to try and make it two wins in a row, as they travel to Championship leaders and big-spenders London Broncos for an 1895 Cup first-round tie this coming Sunday.
Hardman said: “It’s important for us to stay level-headed.
“But we are excited to challenge ourselves against the quality London have.
“We’re looking forward to playing that cup game.”
