Cougars stung by Hornets comeback

6:44pm Sunday 14th September 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

Cougars 26, Rochdale Hornets 32

Cougars’ promotion dream ended in spectacular fashion after they let an 18-point lead slip during a thrilling play-off eliminator.

Barry Eaton’s side looked all set to surge into a National League Grand Final qualifier at Oldham after building up a 24-6 advantage against Rochdale.

But the visitors got over just as the interval hooter sounded and then mounted an amazing second-half comeback to leave Keighley stunned.

Former Cougar Ian Sinfield got the match-winning try but referee Ronnie Laughton came under fire, having earlier disallowed Craig Fawcett’s 69th-minute drop goal attempt when the match was level at 26-26.

The Keighley player’s effort had already sailed between the posts before Laughton blew his whistle for an alleged knock-on at the play-the-ball.

Eaton said: “It could have been the winning point but it was brought back because the ref had seen something. Our boys are adamant there was no knock-on though.

“Losing like that is a bitter pill to swallow but I honestly feel the complexion of the game went away from us because of some refereeing decisions in the second half.

“I don’t want to take anything away from Rochdale – they battled really enthusiastically to get back at us – but certainly the momentum swung and not just because of what they did.

“We’re obviously gutted right now but I’m proud of the boys’ effort. They didn’t lie down and had a real dig.”

Rochdale went ahead through Martin Ainscough’s eighth-minute converted try but then it was all Keighley in the first half.

George Rayner scored a sensational 70-metre try straight from a scrum and then impish stand-off Jon Presley conjured up two fantastic individual scores of his own, first with some classic footwork and then after a 50-metre break from another set-piece.

When Aussie prop Brendan Rawlins arced his way to the line in the 35th minute, Danny Jones booting his fourth conversion, Rochdale looked buried at 24-6.

But Carl Snyed sneaked over in the dying seconds to give them hope and Darren Shaw’s team came out revitalised after the restart, scoring three tries in just six minutes to turn the tie on its head.

Sinfield got his first on 45 and David Cunliffe added another soon after when Keighley botched up a short restart.

Full back Chris Giles completed the turnaround when he finished off a fine raid down Cougars’ left flank, Snyed’s conversion putting the ecstatic visitors 26-24 ahead.

A Jones penalty levelled the tie on 55 minutes and Cougars regained some composure but they could not make a huge period of pressure tell and the Hornets came back to sting them once more when Sinfield slid in for his second.