Keighley Cougars 34, York City Knights 0

Keighley Cougars finally got their Kingstone Press Championship season started after a six-try romp over York this afternoon.

It was their first win of the campaign after losing their previous six games, with former Super League winger Richie Barnett bagging himself a brace of tries.

Despite that poor start, Cougars coach Paul March believed that they had been building for this win for a long time.

He said: “It’s a huge relief but I’ve said it week in, week out that this win was coming.

“We’ve had a tough start to the season and we’ve been building in our performances, and, thankfully, everything clicked together today.

“To nil a side in any division as well is a massive achievement and I thought our attitude was second to none.

“It’s a massive confidence boost for us going forward now. We have played Featherstone, Leigh, Halifax and Batley - it doesn’t get much tougher than that so we had to target this game as a win, so we’ll enjoy it.”

Cougars broke the deadlock when Danny Jones fed Sean Hesketh, who bulldozed his way in through the middle. Jones added the extras.

Keighley were then gifted another score five minutes later, Jonny Presley’s pass being intercepted by former Woodhouse Grove pupil Elliot Cosgrove, who raced in unopposed from 40 metres out, with Jones converting.

They then got their third just before half-time as James Feather took on the line and whizzed a ball out wide for Paul White to dot the ball down. Jones kicked the two to make it 18-0 going into the sheds.

After the interval, the Knights were camping on Keighley’s line, but they failed to take any sort of advantage and the Cougars then made them pay as Feather, Jones and Brendon Rawlins combined to play in Barnett at the corner, with Jones’s conversion putting the visitors well out of sight.

But the onslaught did not stop there as Scott Law’s offload helped fellow prop Andy Shickell barge his way over.

Jones once again goaled and the icing was added to the cake when Jones’s spiralling ball across found Barnett for a simple second of the afternoon to empahtically end the Cougars' winless run. they also moved off the bottom of the table.

Keighley Cougars: White; Barnett, Sagar, Cosgrove, Duffy; Jones, March; Hesketh, Feather, Shickell, Pursglove, Martin, Rawlins. Subs: Smith, Law, Sheriffe, Chandler.

York City Knights: Carr; Dent, Haynes, Briscoe, Latus; Nicklas, Presley; Potter, Lee, Aldous, Hadley, Smith, Nicholson. Subs: Scott, Iley, Stenchion, Sullivan.

Referee: Jamie Leahy

Attendance: 739