KEIGHLEY COUGARS 22 DEWSBURY RAMS 16
CHRISTIAN LEE, Cougar Park, Sunday
RESURGENT Keighley survived second-half pressure from Dewsbury to record their third win in four games with the help of Matty Beharrell’s five goals.
The Cougars led 20-4 at the break, but second-half tries from Jacob Hookem and Caelum Jordan enabled the Rams to set up a tense finish.
Keighley quickly raced out to a 12-0 advantage as the home forwards dominated their counterparts.
Wily veteran George Flanagan burrowed over from dummy-half for the first try after Brad England was brought down a metre short of the line.
Then a break from Leo Aliyu brought Keighley to within ten metres of the Dewsbury line and from there, Jack Teanby was too powerful as he smashed through the goal-line defence for the second.
Beharrell tagged on the extras to both scores, but while Dewsbury were down, they weren’t out, and began to play themselves back into the game, eventually reducing the the deficit through Craig McShane.
The fullback had looked most likely to create a moment of magic for his side early on, and although Keighley appeared to have numbered up well down the short side, he managed to evade two tackles to dive over.
Hookem’s conversion attempt struck the right upright and ricocheted back into the field of play.
Dewsbury’s joy was shortlived, however, as Keighley responded in the half when Andy Grabriel plucked out of the air a steepling kick from Beharrell and dotted down.
Beharrell added the two, then knocked over a penalty-goal on the stroke of half-time following a Dewsbury ball steal under the posts, giving Keighley a 16-point lead at the break.
Dewsbury got off to the perfect start in the second half as Hookem crossed for an early try. Offloads kept the ball alive, and eventually the halfback found space to dive over. He converted his own score.
However their efforts to get back into the game were struck a blow on the 55-minute mark when Dan Coates was sent to the sin bin following an accumulation of penalties given away.
Despite the numerical advantage, Keighley failed to find a way to the Dewsbury line, and it would be the visitors who struck next.
A towering kick was again directed towards Gabriel on the Keighley wing, but he could only juggle the ball, and it fell into the hands of Jordan. The flying centre streaked away downfield to score, avoiding the valiant efforts of Beharrell in the backfield.
Hookem was on target from the tee from the touchline to reduce the deficit to four points with plenty of time on the clock.
Although set up for an exciting finish, Dewsbury failed to make the most of their chances in the closing minutes and Keighley were able to comfortably play out the remainder of the game.
And with seconds to go, Beharrell added a second penalty-goal.
GAMESTAR: Keighley have lacked an attacking focal point for much of the season and Matty Beharrell, signed from Hunslet last month, provided this in the first half, as well as adding ten valuable points with the boot.
GAMEBREAKER: Beharrell knocked over a tough conversion from out wide to improve Andy Grabriel’s try before slotting a late penalty-goal, his fifth kick from five attempts.
MATCHFACTS
COUGARS
32 Connor Sayner
2 Brad Holroyd
4 Junior Sa’u
19 Junior Nuu
42 Andy Gabriel
13 Aaron Brown
43 Matty Beharrell
23 Leo Aliyu
9 George Flanagan
33 Jack Teanby
3 Adam Ryder
11 Brad England
15 Dan Parker
Subs (all used)
44 Oli Burton
10 Mark Ioane
16 Jordan Schofield
12 Lachlan Lanskey
Tries: Flanagan (9), Teanby (13), Gabriel (33)
Goals: Beharrell 5/5
RAMS
30 Craig McShane
15 Keenen Tomlinson
3 Caelum Jordan
4 George Senior
22 Liam Copland
6 Dan Coates
7 Jacob Hookem
36 Jamie Gill
31 Jack McShane
20 Harvey Roberts
11 Joe Summers
12 Matt Garside
13 Dec Tomlinson
Subs (all used)
14 Luke Mearns
8 Jackson Walker
19 Jack Briggs
10 Toby Everett
Tries: C McShane (26), Hookem (46), Jordan (62)
Goals: Hookem 2/3
Sin bin: Coates (55) – holding down
SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 12-0, 12-4, 18-4, 20-4; 20-10, 20-16, 22-16
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Cougars: Matty Beharrell; Rams: Jacob Hookem
Penalty count: 10-6
Half-time: 20-4
Referee: Andy Sweet