An opportunity wasted, admits Eaton

7:54pm Sunday 27th July 2008

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Oldham 30 Cougars 28

A frantic finish was too little too late as Cougars just missed out on beating 12-man Oldham.

Barry Eaton’s side were left kicking themselves after wasting a glorious chance to close the gap on their opponents in third place.

Former Keighley favourite Rob Roberts received his marching orders for punching Jermaine Wray in the 34th minute.

The score was locked at 12-12 and Cougars looked all set to push on and bring an end to title-chasing Oldham’s unbeaten home record.

But, thwarted by too many errors and poor discipline in searing heat, they never capitalised.

Cougars went in 18-12 down and were brushed aside in the second half, trailing 30-18 until a late flurry almost dragged them back from the brink.

Winger Ryan Smith raised hopes with his second try on 76 minutes and when impressive stand-off Jon Presley finished off a scintillating move soon after, victory was in touching distance.

The Cougars had one last chance with only seconds remaining when Neil Lowe bust down the middle and aiming a kick to the corner.

Speedster Smith won the race to the bouncing ball but couldn’t collect under pressure and spilled inches from the line, missing out on a hat-trick that would have seen his side triumph.

Eaton said: “We could have snatched it at the death but we gave ourselves too much to do.

“They had their best player sent off and we wasted that opportunity We didn’t take advantage of the extra man but we know what can happen after a red card.

“We had a player dismissed the other week and went on to win; it can raise spirits and good teams stick together. Oldham did that.

“Our ball control wasn’t good enough and our discipline was poor.

“You can’t give so much ball away in this heat and – although we showed great character at the end – we probably ended up defending for about 70 per cent of the match.”

Danny Helliwell, Paul O’Connor and James Coyle got Oldham’s first-half tries, Mick Nanyn converting all three.

Smith scored Keighley’s first after the unlikely figure of hulking Lowe – always a handful – dinked a delicate grubber to the corner, the winger this time doing the business and Danny Jones landing a touchline conversion.

Centre Ollie Pursglove marked his return after injury with a try after more good work from Presley, Jones adding the extras to level.

But mistake-ridden Keighley again invited Oldham in by losing the ball in the re-start set, Scott Law this time the guilty party, and that summed up their afternoon.

Then the colourful Roberts, having already been penalised for lashing out while in possession, was instantly dismissed for belting Wray in back play.

It didn’t signal the end for his side though who were handed that morale-boosting interval lead when scrum-half Coyle sliced through in injury-time.

They returned after the break far more enthusiastic than Keighley, who continued to self-destruct.

Former Bulls star Marcus St Hilaire charged over off Phil Joseph’s long, flat pass and Gareth Langley converted while it needed two try-saving tackles from George Rayner to prevent further damage.

Andy Shickell side-stepped his way over for Keighley in a rare break-out, Jones doing the rest, but Joseph burrowed in from dummy half, Langley’s kick making it 30-18.

Keighley, who had second-row Will Cartledge making his first league appearance of the season after a broken arm, finally came to life with that late double but they ran out of time.