Cougars 28, Blackpool 20 - COUGARS are confident their last-gasp victory over Blackpool Panthers will rebuild their shattered confidence and put some pride back into the shell-shocked side.

Despite looking every bit as good as most of the teams they have met this season their record has been one of woeful mistakes and missed opportunities - now they are looking to move forward.

The win - sealed by two late tries from Gareth Greenwood - was desperately needed and hard fought.

At half time the Cougars were 16-8 down to the bottom club in the division, and things were looking bleak for the team which has seen its confidence shattered since they were relegated after one season in National League One. To fight their way back from behind three times showed they had the character to dig deep.

Greeenwood and Paul Ashton started the game on the subs bench, but were thrown into the thick of the action at half time and told to cut out errors, control possession and they would win. After they had thrown away so many games when they had appeared firmly in control at the break it was a brave man who would have backed them to secure victory even against the bottom club.

In the first league game of the season the Panthers had an impressive-looking line up of players, but failed to impress on the field, this time they opened the scoring with Gus Martin forcing his way through some weak tackling to find his way to the line. Jake Johnson converted to give the visitors a 6-0 lead.

Captain James Rushforth blasted over from short range and two goals from Adam Mitchell edged Keighley into a slim lead.

As the error-count mounted Blackpool took advantage to force they way back into the 16-8 half time lead with a converted try from Chris Ramsdale and a second unconverted effort from Gary Smith.

The crowd of over 1,000 was stunned by the scoreline, and a little magic was needed to lift the atmosphere.

Ashton added the vital ingredient when he was thrown into the mix after the break when he gave Cougars the lift they needed to score two quick tries.

He set off on a darting run and gained enough ground for Daniel Harvey to force his way over. After a quiet period following evidence of real promise in the opening games he appears to be growing in confidence again. He has shown determination to pounce when he is close to the line, an ingredient that has been missing since Jason Ramshaw retired - and the club has missed his three-yard drives to the line.

Ashton's second contribution was a grubber kick that bounced up in the arms of full back Matt Bramald who added to his try tally. Ashton's conversion put Cougars into an 18-16 lead and they looked set to steam roller the second period.

However, Blackpool hit back with a try from Mick Redford to set up a tense final period.

Once able to hold onto the ball Cougars hammered the Blackpool line and Greenwood showed slinky footwork to score the first of his 'double'. With the clock ticking down he made certain of victory after using quick thinking to take a tap penalty on his own 20-metre line and racing 80m to make certain of victory with the final touchdown, which was converted by Ashton.

Throughout the game Danny Murgatroyd had been an inspriation to the side, defying the heat to bombard the opposition line with a string of battering runs and was named man of the match.

Now the team knows it must build on the rare victory, but once again they have a weekend off before travelling to take on London Skolars on Saturday, July 23.