Leigh18, Cougars 30

COUGARS are determined to wring every ounce of emotion from their fans this season.

The final scoreline looks comfortable enough and anyone who didn't travel over the Pennines would think it was anything but a last-gasp victory.

But it took an 83rd minute break from David Larder to finally settle the nerves of travelling fans after a very wobbly 15 minutes.

It had felt comfortable at 24-4 and again the Cougars eased off the gas throwing out silly passes that didn't need to be forced. Kevin Crouthers was caught napping by a short kick he spilled as Leigh gobbled up three chances and suddenly at 24-18 the Cougars were in danger of losing at least a point.

After being shaken to their boots Keighley recoveredto bring home their first away victory of the season - a fifth win out of the last six games - and the season seems a lot sunnier.

The first half was a real tough affair, a good old fashioned forward battle of attrition. Phil Stephenson, Lee Hansen and 'Fiery' Fred Sapatu all emerged with the battle scars to prove just how tough it was.

It seemed inevitable that somebody would be dismissed and that was always going to be Tim Street, it usually is.

He shouldhave gone earlier than the 62nd minute, afterflattening Darren Summerill in the 54th minute after the Cougar sub had scored, but he was only cautioned.

He eventually got his marching orders after a scrum errupted and Sapatu and Street were at it again. The last in a series of running battles between the pair resulted in a red card for Street and yellow for Sapatu.

The Cougars took an early lead Jason Ramshaw was fouled by Street, Jason Lee landing the penalty in the ninth minute.

Twenty minutes later the Cougars extended their lead with a fine try. A smart flip pass by Larder sent Jason Laurence racing 30 metres and he drew the defence before sending Brock McDonald over the line.

Leigh put the Cougars under real pressure, twice they had players held ont heir backs over the Keighley line and James Arkwright fumbled as he looked to dive over following Jason Donohue's kick ahead.

It looked as if the Cougars would keep a clean sheet going into the break, but their defence slid too far and Leigh got thebreak they needed, Paul Wingfield's run supperted by Rodney Bowker making thehalf-time score 6-4.

Cougars came out of the half-time team talk on fire. They really got at Leigh and foud the weaknesses around the fringes, a bitof good luck got them going.

Christian Tyrer certainly had a lively debut and his kicking game proved vital in the end. He put a kick through which rebounded off Street into the waiting arms of Crouthers; he found Tyrer who sent half-back partner Chris Robinson racing over.

Lee failed to convert, but added a penalty and the Cougars were really on top.

Leigh didn't get out of their danger zone and it was only a matterof time before they spilled possession. When they did Cougars pounced.

Theball was moved wide with speed putting Summerill in for his first try of the season.

Thenext try should have killed Keigh off. It was a cracker from Ramshaw who threw out an outrageous dummy to give himself a clear run of 10 metres to the line. Lee converted and at 24-4 the Cougars looked home and dry.

Leigh's revival came from sloppy passing by the Cougars which gave away possession at a time when they should have played percentages to win with ease.

Leigh's second try came with 15 minutes left, a 40 metre break by Phil Kendrick resulting in Kieron Purtill diving over. Crouthers then missed the re-start and Arkwright raced over and Liegh were really on a roll.

Their final trycame a minute from time, Anthony Murray finishing off a fine break by Arkwright and David Hill - and it was just as well Wingfield missed three comfortable conversions.

Cougars looked a class act, tough up front, incisive out wide, but they need to add concentration and intensity before they are a top side again.

Leigh: Bowker; Hill, wingfield, Kendrick, Hadcroft; Arkwright, Purtill, Street, donohue, Purtill, Costello, Liku (Garces 40), Grundy, (Costello 40), Murray.

Cougars: Laurence, Wray, McDonald, Crouthers, Lee; Tyrer, Robinson; Hansen, Ramshaw, Stephenson, Sapatu, Anderson (Summerill 23), Larder.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.