KEIGHLEY Cougars suffered a disappointing day in Cumbria yesterday, paying the penalty in a 16-14 defeat to Whitehaven.
The visitors outscored their hosts by three tries to one, but they got on the wrong side of referee Milo McKelvey.
That meant five Ciaran Walker penalties made the difference, the last coming on the hooter to seal the two points for Haven.
The defeat leaves Keighley 11th in the 20-team Betfred Championship table, while the Cumbrians move up a spot to 16th.
Cougars made a dreadful start, falling behind instantly to a Walker penalty goal, then seeing Lachlan Lanskey sin-binned for a late tackle.
Walker got over for a try, which he converted himself, after nine minutes, but Keighley regrouped once back up to their full complement.
Tries from Dylan Proud and Alfie Dean drew Keighley level at 8-8, but two cheap penalties late in the first half allowed Haven to take a four-point lead into the interval.
That advantage did not last long, as Izaac Farrell scored a try for Cougars three minutes into the second half, with centre Will Groves converting that to put the visitors ahead.
And Keighley hammered at the door to try and close the game out, wasting a number of good chances and seeing Brandon Pickersgill have a try disallowed controversially for an alleged foot in touch.
Instead, Whitehaven drew level at 14-14 with seven minutes to go, before a dramatic finale.
The home side attacked the Keighley line, but they looked to have knocked on a few metres out.
Instead, McKelvey felt he saw an offence from Cougars and awarded a penalty in front of the sticks, to the disbelief of the visiting players and fans.
Walker gleefully popped the two points through the sticks to win the game for his side, after they had trailed for virtually the whole of the second half.
Keighley will have a couple of weeks to regroup, with their next game coming on Sunday, June 7 at home to Rochdale Hornets.
They won’t have talented young back rower George Hill available, as he has been recalled from his loan spell at Cougar Park by parent club Castleford.
