KEIGHLEY COUGARS 22 ROCHDALE HORNETS 34
EMMA KENNEDY, Cougar Park, Sunday
JAMIE DALLIMORE starred as Rochdale earned their first win at Keighley in five years.
The halfback chipped in with a hat-trick and had a hand in several others as the Hornets leapfrogged their opponents into eleventh place in the Championship table.
Keighley were without the influential Izaac Farrell but welcomed back Matty Beharrell after a spell out with injury, whilst Junior Sa’u, Lewis Hatton and debutant Mark Ioane turned out for Rochdale against their former club.
Neither side really made their mark in the early exchanges, Jack Teanby coming closest for the hosts, only for the frontrower to lose the ball inches from the line.
Keighley, though, were guilty of giving away cheap field position to their opponents and a quick burst of tries saw Rochdale add 18 points to the scoreboard in a blistering six-minute spell.
The pressure of a penalty, and then a short drop-out told, as the Hornets opened the scoring with 12 minutes on the clock.
Jamie Dallimore was held up but the home defence could not stop Jordan Paga as he darted out of dummy-half next to the posts, with Max Flanagan adding the first of five conversions.
Two minutes later, Chris Barratt burst through a tackle and fed the supporting Jack Hansen to score, before Dallimore weaved his way around some patchy tryline defence, Flanagan converting both to leave the visitors scoring at almost a point a minute.
Seemingly devoid of ideas, Keighley were under increasing pressure after conceding consecutive drop-outs, but despite the best efforts of George Roby, Rochdale could find no way through.
The hosts enjoyed their best spell as the half drew to a close, although they were lucky not to fall further behind after Ross Whitmore’s looping cut-out pass freed TJ Boyd to dive over out wide, but the try was ruled out for a forward pass.
Keighley were eventually rewarded two minutes before half-time after some neat footwork from Connor Sayner set up Aaron Brown to score from close range, Beharrell’s conversion bringing the score to 6-18 at half-time.
Rochdale made a dream start to the second half after Beharrell’s kick-off had flown out on the full, with Dallimore scoring from dummy-half into the left corner within a minute of the restart.
Ethan Wood then found a way through a pile of bodies to score out wide, Flanagan converting.
That try at last galvanised Keighley, who looked to a left edge growing in confidence to find a way back into the contest.
Sayner dodged his way past two would-be tackles and headed for the line, but the Rochdale defence scrambled well to force him into a knock-on, before Brad Holroyd was then tackled into touch amid a flowing move.
It was instead the visitors that extended their lead against the run of play, Dallimore proving too strong from close range to complete his hat-trick into the left corner.
Keighley were eventually rewarded for their efforts on the hour, Holroyd scoring out wide after a neat show of hands down the left wing.
And when Dallimore was sin-binned for dissent with 15 minutes remaining, the hosts quickly took advantage, Nathan Rushworth barging his way over from close range and handing Beharrell a simple conversion.
Rochdale saw a second try chalked off with eight minutes left to play after Roby was adjudged to have knocked on over the line, with Keighley adding insult to injury.
Beharrell, growing in influence, fed the supporting George Flanagan to score with almost his first touch since his reintroduction from the bench before his 40/20 threatened to set up a grandstand finish, only for Max Clarke to knock-on.
GAMESTAR: Jamie Dallimore was at times unplayable and was given the freedom to control the match, as well as scoring a hat-trick.
GAMEBREAKER: Rochdale’s blistering six-minute spell midway through the first half opened up a commanding lead, with their try shortly after the restart all but sealing victory.
MATCHFACTS
COUGARS
1 Connor Sayner
18 Oliver Whitford
5 Dylan Proud
4 Max Clarke
2 Brad Holroyd
23 Brandon Pickersgill
7 Matty Beharrell
10 Jack Teanby
14 George Flanagan
26 Nathan Rushworth
21 Alfie Dean
12 Lachlan Lanskey
13 Aaron Brown
Subs (all used)
8 Dan Parker
9 Oli Burton
11 Lucas Green
17 Jordan Schofield
Tries: Brown (38), Holroyd (60), Rushworth (68), Flanagan (73)
Goals: Beharrell 3/4
HORNETS
1 Max Flanagan
30 TJ Boyd
4 Junior Sa’u
3 Tom Ashton
2 Dan Nixon
6 Jamie Dallimore
25 Jack Hansen
23 Chris Barratt
7 Jordan Paga
8 Jaden Dayes
9 Ross Whitmore
12 Ethan Wood
13 Jordan Syme
Subs (all used)
10 Lewis Hatton
14 George Roby
33 Isaac Coleman
34 Mark Ioane
Tries: Paga (12), Hansen (14), Dallimore (18, 41, 55), Wood (50)
Goals: Flanagan 5/6
Sin bin: Dallimore (65) – dissent
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 0-12, 0-18, 6-18; 6-22, 6-28, 6-34, 10-34, 16-34, 22-34
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Cougars: Connor Sayner; Hornets: Jamie Dallimore
Penalty count: 4-6
Half-time: 6-18
Referee: Carl Hughes
Attendance: 928