KEIGHLEY Cougars recovered from a dire first half performance at Swinton Lions yesterday to grab a dramatic 22-22 draw in the Betfred Championship.
Visiting head coach Ian Hardman blasted his side as being “miles off” and “really poor” in the opening 40 minutes, which ended with them being lucky to only be 18-6 behind.
Despite the “really worrying” showing, Cougars regrouped and were much improved in the final half-hour of the game.
And Oli Whitford was the hero of the afternoon, his late hat-trick saving the day.
But Keighley will still be frustrated, as they outscored Swinton by five tries to four, only for Izaac Farrell and Will Groves to miss all-but-one conversion attempt between them.
Cougars began in appalling fashion, going 12-0 behind after only eight minutes thanks to two converted tries from winger Connor Parkinson.
And while George Flanagan barged over the line for Keighley on the half-hour mark, with Farrell’s kick reducing the deficit further, the hosts soon scored again.
This time it was full back Louie Roberts who crossed the whitewash, Reece Briers tagging on the extras.
Swinton moved further in front when replacement Tom Ratchford scored right at the start of the second half, but from there, Keighley got on top.
Dee Foggin-Johnston got their second try, taking Farrell’s perfectly weighted kick on the full to score in the corner.
Despite his conversion game faltering, Farrell was still shining in open play.
He produced an outrageous long pass, which looked slightly forward, to gift Whitford a try in the corner.
The referee allowed the score and Keighley, buoyed by that, soon scored again.
Second row Alfie Dean did brilliantly to escape a tackle from Swinton captain Gav Rodden, before flicking the ball to Whitford, who squeezed the ball down in the corner despite the close attentions of Roberts.
Keighley dramatically drew level with five minutes left, moving the ball nicely from left to right, as Groves sauntered towards the line before finding Dean.
The second row fed Whitford on his outside, who squeezed over in the corner.
But Groves’ difficult conversion attempt from the touchline dropped short, as Keighley, now 10th in the table, had to settle for a share of the spoils.
After the game, Hardman told the club’s in-house media team: “I thought we were miles off in the first half, really poor.
“Swinton started the game a lot better than us, running harder and tackling harder.
“We were making errors early in the count too and it was a worrying first half with the things we were seeing from us.
“The key was to maintain our calmness at half-time and not be rattled by what we were doing wrong.
“I came up with a way of fixing things and I thought we were very good in the last half-hour, in terms of how we built pressure and created the tries we needed.”
Prop Tobias Gibson made his debut on loan from Workington Town, while half back Groves is still technically only on trial.
Germany international Eoin Bowie has signed permanently after his trial, but he did not feature yesterday.
Keighley return to Cougar Park next Sunday, as they host Halifax.
The Panthers have won three of their eight games so far, but remain bottom of the table.
