Swinton Lions fight back to deny Alan Kilshaw in first Keighley Cougars game

KEIGHLEY COUGARS 14 SWINTON LIONS 18
IAN RIGG, Cougar Park, Sunday

SWINTON continue to fly high after another late strike helped claim the points for the second week on the trot, while Keighley remain winless after five rounds of the competition.

The first game for Cougars with coach Alan Kilshaw – formerly of the Lions – in charge was always going to be tough for Swinton, but they showed great resilience to fight back from a 12-0 half-time deficit to take the points.

Keighley started strongly and Mark Ioane caused the Lions’ defence countless problems going down the hill.

Brad England opened the scoring when he dummied his way to the line to score by the posts and Jack Miller converted.

An incident went on report in the 17th minute when Keighley’s Jordan Schofield had to leave the field for a head-injury assessment following a tackle.

Swinton had a couple of good chances, but the Cougars’ defence held firm and they went further ahead just before half-time when Miller spun the ball right to send Josh Lynam over for the try as Miller converted again.

It was end-to-end for the final ten minutes of the half but defences were clearly on top.

Keighley forced a goal-line drop-out soon after the restart and the Lions defence was under pressure again, but they hit back and Gav Rodden went close before Harry Higham was dumped into touch going for the corner.

Then Mitch Cox had a chance from a Reece Briers kick but knocked on.

But Swinton did finally open their scoring on 50 minutes when Jordan Paga was the first to react to a Briers high kick and he plucked it out of the air to score by the posts, with Briers converting.

The Cougars stretched their lead to eight points when Miller kicked a penalty for a high tackle on 56 minutes.

But as the game continued George Roby was causing the Keighley defence plenty of trouble with his darting runs and he twice went close before Ellis Anderson broke down the left wing for the Lions on 65 minutes, only to be tackled into touch near the line. Ioane was held up under the posts soon afterwards at the other end.

From this, Swinton went back on the attack and changed the game when Roby again darted across the posts and fed Jordan Brown who crashed over. Briers converted to create a tense final seven minutes.

And the killer blow came with just three minutes left on the clock, with the Lions on the attack and Briers launching a kick for the corner, which Aaron Lynch collected to score by the flag.

And just like last week against Goole, Briers landed the conversion against the wind from the touchline.

The Cougars went short from the restart but knocked on before Swinton lost the ball in their last set.

Miller gathered it to kick a 40/20 but from the play-the-ball the clock ran down and the Lions held on to force an error and take the points.

GAMESTAR: Reece Briers was immaculate with the boot.

GAMEBREAKER: Jordan Brown’s try eight minutes from time turned the game.

MATCHFACTS
COUGARS
5 Billy Walkley
2 Brad Holroyd
3 Adam Ryder
40 Zack Gardner
19 Junior Nuu
18 Ben Dean
7 Jack Miller
10 Mark Ioane
9 George Flanagan
16 Jordan Schofield
11 Brad England
12 Lachlan Lanskey
13 Aaron Brown
Subs (all used)
39 Jonny Openshaw
17 Josh Lynam
29 Lucas Green
31 Charles McKler

Tries: England (15), Lynam (27)
Goals: Miller 3/3

LIONS
1 Louie Roberts
5 Harry Higham
2 Ellis Anderson
22 Aaron Lynch
25 Frank Sergent
14 Jordan Paga
7 Reece Briers
8 Adam Sidlow
21 Ben Hartill
20 Jamie Reddecliff
11 Gav Rodden
12 Mitch Cox
13 Kenny Baker
Subs (all used)
9 George Roby
15 Jordan Brown
16 Finley Beardsworth
10 Bobby Shingler