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Cougars Take The Cup At The Death


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<p>Keighley Cougars 22-18 York City Knights Match Report by Joshua Chapman (@JRCSport)</p>

<p>KEIGHLEY Cougars claimed iPro Sport Cup glory in the most dramatic of circumstances against York in front of a raucous Blackpool crowd.</p>

<p>After appearing to lose the game with five minutes remaining, Charlie Martin touched down Paul Handforth’s grubber with little over a minute left on the clock to send 300 Cougars fans into raptures and his team mates into delirium.</p>

<p>Head Coach Paul March said: “Today was all about reactions for me after what happened down in London last weekend and what a reaction it was from the boys.</p>

<p>“Every neutral will have enjoyed that and when they scored that try, I thought here we go again, but it proved to be third time lucky.</p>

<p>“We set our stall out early in the game and built our performance on the back of that, I thought we controlled the game throughout and when they scored that try with five minutes to go, it did look like curtains for us.</p>

<p>“The attitude of my players though shone through and they never gave in and snatched the game in the end and the way we played showed why for me, we were the favourites.</p>

<p>“It was one of the games where if Paul Handforth stood up and performed, we won, and that’s exactly what happened, he’s a seasoned professional and his kick at the death for Charlie’s try showed why he is our go to man.</p>

<p>“I thought Tiger was excellent and the two back-rowers, Josh Lynam and John Oakes, played the full eighty in this heat and they were outstanding too.”</p>

<p>The game itself was a real swinging pendulum with breathtaking end-to-end Rugby League being played throughout by both sides, further emphasising the disappointment that the game had been overlooked for broadcast by Sky Sports.</p>

<p>Knights captain Jack Aldous opened the scoring on the 11<sup>th</sup> minute mark when he raced over from close range after taking in Mike Emmett’s pass.</p>

<p>The Cougars pulled level when on the back of a penalty, Liam Darville got a superb offload out to Paul White on the left wing allowing him to race over in the corner.</p>

<p>Ash Lindsay knocked on over the line from a free play after Ben Dent’s spill but following the scrum, Rikki Sheriffe finished off a fine breaking move to send Keighley into the interval with a four point advantage.</p>

<p>Handforth had the opportunity to extend the lead on the forty minute mark but the Cougars on-field general failed to ground the ball properly.</p>

<p>It appeared the trophy was destined for Cougar Park when seven minutes after the restart, the Cougars back-row powerhouse John Oakes steamrolled his way over two would-be tacklers to crash over and open up a ten point gap between the sides.</p>

<p>There was controversy in the next Cougars attack on the line as Club Captain James Feather squeezed over and appeared to ground the ball cleanly but was adjudged to have knocked on by the in-goal official.</p>

<p>York wouldn’t go down without a fight and shortly before the hour mark got back into the game when former Cougar Jonny Presley took an Aldous’ offload and threw a great sidestep to race over from twenty five metres out.</p>

<p>Then, five minutes from time, it appeared that March’s side had thrown the final away as a cross-field kick from Presley sailed through the air and James Morland rose highest to pick the ball out the air and touch the ball down.</p>

<p>A short kick-off followed and Keighley won the ball and made their way down field and then on the last tackle, Handforth put a grubber in behind the Knights line and it appeared to have too much on it.</p>

<p>Cue delirium. Charlie Martin races in and gets there just in time to get the vital touch needed to send those in red, white and green into a state of absolute joy and wrap up the victory which saw the Cougars bring home the iPro Sport Cup.</p>

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