London Skolars 16, Keighley Cougars 36

THE Cougars were made to work hard for the points that enabled them to reclaim second place in Kingstone Press League One after defeating London Skolars in their rearranged fixture.

The original game was abandoned due to the tragic death of Danny Jones and the RFL had made the decision to move this emotional occasion to Hemel Stags' home at Pennine Way, the venue at which the Keighley star scored his 1,000th point for the club back in April.

After a delay to kick-off to allow the match doctor time to collect the required diazepam from a local chemist, Andy Gabriel got the Cougars off to the best possible start as he managed to get his arm out of the tackle and over the line.

It was not until the 21st minute that the measly crowd of 115 would see the next try as Hamish Barnes was quickest to Rikki Sheriffe's grubber to touch down in the corner.

The Skolars first of the afternoon came from some comical Cougars defending as Liam Darville and Sheriffe both spilled the ball before Mike Bishay pounced on it to make it 10-4 at the interval.

After a poor start to the second half, the visitors were stunned when Dave Williams powered over from close range, with Bishay then converting to level up the tally.

But the Cougars retaliated in sensational style when Liam Darville's beautiful cross-field kick was collected by Barnes before offloading to Sheriffe on the outside to get down in the left corner.

There was a lengthy delay following the restart when Bishay was stretchered off after a collision in the tackle with Samir Tahraoui.

Darville was the next to cross after taking the offload from Paul White – but the Skolars got back within a try when John Paxton handed off Gabriel.

Barnes was controversially denied a second try by the touch judge and tempers threatened to boil over, with the hosts deliberately targeting Tahraoui in the minutes which followed.

But with the north-south fitness divide appearing to kick in during the game's closing stages, a quick play-the-ball from David March paved the way for Brendon Rawlins to get over the line.

Then from a free play, the Cougars made the margin of victory a tad more comfortable as Gabriel raced 70 metres to touch down March's superb kick downfield, with Paul White wrapping it up on the hooter.