Workington Town 52

Keighley Cougars 4

KEIGHLEY Cougars away day woes continued as they suffered a hammering at the hands of resurgent Workington Town in Betfred League One.

The Cougars have now only picked up three of a possible 16 points on the road this season, with the latest showing arguably their worst of the season to date.

And head coach Rhys Lovegrove was left questioning the pride and commitment of his team following the loss.

“We could look at the fans and the pride and passion they consistently show for the club and use that ourselves in our performances,” admitted the disappointed Lovegrove.

“The fans came a long way today and we have let them down.

“I’ve had a brief discussion with the boys about what playing first grade is.

“I think a few of them got a wake-up call and we had a good week at training, but they just assumed that playing first grade is about making line breaks and scoring tries, when it’s not.

“First grade is about taking those tough carries and doing them small details consistently and these are the sort of games that you’ve got to be on with those small details and I’m not sure if the boys had their minds on that today.”

After both sides made an error strewn start to the game, Workington opened the scoring when after Matthew Bailey missed a tackle, Declan O’Donnell rounded the defence to touch down.

The home side doubled their advantage when O’Donnell broke from a Jack Miller grubber and the ball was worked to Jamie Doran, whose grubber to the corner was collected and touched down by Jonathan Walsh.

Keighley briefly got themselves into the game when Jason Muranka turned his way through a tackle and managed to force his way over the line.

That would be as good as it got for the Cougars and moments later, Carl Forber successfully converted a penalty after dusting himself off after being on the receiving end of a high tackle.

Town then furthered their lead through Fuifui Moimoi as the veteran forward powered his way through four defenders to crash over to the left of the uprights.

The game was killed off as a contest shortly before the interval when Singleton dove over in the corner after Scott Rooke took advantage of the numbers available on the overlap.

The second half was all Town and they set their stall for the second 40 early when Forber touched down his own grubber after the Cougars defence failed to deal with the kick into the in-goal area.

Tom Curwen was the next play to get over for the home side, the forward twisting and turning his way through the line before rolling his way over the line from close range.

Keighley had a rare opportunity to score on the back of a Muranka break but the Workington defence held strong and denied both Taylor Prell and Chris Cullimore.

Another missed tackle cost the Cougars once again, this occasion seeing Gordon Maudling marauding through and running over the tackler to score.

Keighley were counting down the minutes until full-time but conceded once more as they lost possession from a scrum and Sam Hewitt strolled in unchallenged to score.

That would be Hewitt’s last action of the game, as moments later he was sin-binned for a trip on Jack Miller as the visitors looked to break.

But, on the sound of the hooter, the visitors conceded once more as Sean Penkywicz but a clever chip over the top and Rooke won the foot race to beat Alfie Seeley to the ball and score.

PLAYER RATINGS:

Cougars: Prell 5; Dixon 5; Cooke 5; Hallett 5; Seeley 5; Miller 5; Hardcastle 5; Bailey 5; Feather 5; Wray 5; Levy 5; Muranka 5; Parker 5. Subs: Cullimore 5; Hallas 5; Sheriff 5; Darley 5.

Town: Mellor 7; Rooke 6; Hewitt 5; Singleton 7; Walsh 6; Doran 6; Forber 7; Dawson 5; Penkywicz 6; Scholey 6; Tickle 5; Maudling 5; O’Donnell 6. Subs: Curwen 5; Barnes 5; Hopkins 6; Moimoi 7.

Cougars: Tries: Muranka (19). Goals: Hardcastle (0/1)

Town: Tries: O’Donnell (7); Walsh (15); Moimoi (33); Singleton (38); Forber (42); Curwen (48); Maudling (68); Hewitt (74); Rooke (80). Goals: Forber (6/7); Doran (2/3). Sin Bin: Hewitt (77 – Tripping)

Attendance: 947

Referee: Kevin Moore (Normanton)

Betfred League One results: Newcastle Thunder 34-16 London Skolars; North Wales Crusaders 0-30 Doncaster; West Wales Raiders 44-16 Coventry Bears; Workington Town 52-4 Keighley Cougars

Betfred League One fixtures: Sunday, July 28: Hunslet v Whitehaven. Saturday, August 3: London Skolars v Oldham Roughyeds; West Wales Raiders v Newcastle Thunder. Sunday, August 4: Coventry Bears v Keighley Cougars; Hunslet v North Wales Crusaders; Whitehaven v Workington Town