Cougars 30, Hunslet Hawkes 22 - A vintage performance from Cougars' veteran prop Phil Stephenson set his side up for a classic victory over Hunslet.

Stepho's two barnstorming tries and his crunching tackles were the difference between the two young sides.

His sheer physical presence lifted the rest of Gary Moorby's team and contributed to a victory which brought the Cougar fans to life and erased the memory of their nightmare defeat at Batley.

It was significant that when Stepho was off the pitch at the end of the opening period Hunslet's impressive young pack started to dominate. When he returned the Cougars took command again and fought their way back into the lead.

Paul Ashton's dive between the sticks in the final minute sealed a very hard fought victory and his conversion was the icing on a very tasty cake.

Cougars were quickly out of the traps, eager to erase the Batley memories as quickly as they could. Within 10 minutes they led 10-0.

Craig Stanley, who has joined the Cougar Park squad on loan from Leeds, grabbed the first try after collecting a lovely little kick from Danny Fearon and fell over the line to score with his first touch.

Seven minutes later it was Stepho's turn. He took a great inside pass from James Rushforth to crash over, Adam Mitchell tagged on the conversion.

Mitchell then added a penalty and the Cougars were coasting - or so they thought.

The withdrawal of Stephenson certainly seemed to help Hunslet's fiery young pack to get on top and they gradually fought their way back into the game, led superbly by veteran Mick Coyle and outstanding young prop Craig Ibbotson.

Coyle slipped a pass out of the tackle to release Bryn Powell whose pace sent him racing down the wing.

Two minutes from the break Ibbotson worked a slick one-two with full back Kieran Allen to crash over under the sticks. David Mycoe added his second conversion to make it 12-12, and with memories of the previous week's second half collapse still hauntingly clear the signs were ominous.

After the break Cougars again started well. Again Fearon used his kicking feet to come up with a try.

He hacked on Matty Firth's rebounding grubber kick to score on the left wing, Mitchell converted to make it 18-12.

Once again Hunslet got back on terms. Mycoe added a 41-metre penalty before more Cougar indiscipline allowed the Hawks field position to put Powell over for his second.

Keighley had to pull out all the stops.

Simeon Hoyle was tearing them apart up the middle and a break from him led directly to Stephenson's second try on the hour.

He burst through two tackles before elegantly sidestepping Allen to power over. Ashton added the goal, but the Cougars couldn't relax. They had two clear chances to clinch the game with both Stanley and Gareth Hooson missing the opportunity.

Hooson, who has shown increasing skill needs to add a large helping of confidence to his game. He had actually crossed the try line when he opted slip an inside pass instead of going to ground and claiming the points.

Instead Paul Seal squeezed over out wide with just seven minutes to go. Mycoe's conversion just drifted wide, but with Hunslet just two points behind at 24-22 the outcome was wide open.

Both sides looked absolutely shattered, but sheer resilience paid off for the Cougars.

Young Leeds prop Tommy Gallagher scrambled towards the Hunslet line on his hands and knees and found Ashton in support. He only had to fall over the line and for the first time in 80 minutes Cougars knew the game was in the bag.

Moorby was delighted with the way his side battled. "I had a word with the senior players before the game and asked them to lead from the front and give the youngsters the benefit of their experience. Phil Stephenson's response was fantastic, he had his best game since I joined the club and his performance gave everyone a lift," he said.