KEIGHLEY Cougars fell to a 48-21 defeat at home to Toronto Wolfpack on an afternoon where the scoreline didn’t truly reflect the game.

The Canadian side went into an early eight-point lead with Jonny Pownall and fellow winger Liam Kay crossing in either corner.

The Cougars then sprung into life with Will Milner showing great speed and footwork to create the gap to send Josh Lynam diving over.

Toronto were penalised in front of the Cougar posts, and Matty Beharrell opted to take the two to draw the side’s level.

The Wolfpack then fell behind for the first time in a competitive game in 2017 as Beharrell slotted a drop goal over to send Keighley into the interval with a one-point lead on the back of his own superb 40-20 effort.

Previously untouchable this campaign, Toronto were rattled and it showed.

Immediately from the kick-off for the second half, Kay and Jacks collided allowing debutant Josh Casey to kick the ball through for Lynam to score his second.

However, individual errors began to cost the home side as their visitors from across the Atlantic took the game by the scruff of the neck.

Blake Wallace first threw a shimmy to dive over next to the posts, with Casey missing a one-on-tackle from a free play following the restart as Pownall raced 90 metres up the field to grab his second of the afternoon.

The Cougars wouldn’t go down without a fight but Toronto began to show their full-time status, scoring once more as Ritchie Hawkyard threw a wild offload out the tackle and Craig Hall got his boot to the ball before touching down.

Pownall sealed his treble as Craig Hall threw the dummy before offloading to the winger to dive over in the corner.

Keighley got back within two tries when Lynam showed great technique to round a defender 20 metres out from the line and send Beharrell away to dive over.

There was still time though for three rapid-fire Toronto tries as Keighley’s tired bodies began to make individual errors.

First, Beswick spotted a gap from dummy half to create the space to send Andrew Dixon over from close range.

Adam Sidlow then put the icing on the cake for Toronto with a brace of tries as he powered over from two metres out.