PAUL March praised his side’s character after a hard fought, if rather “boring”, 36-16 win at fellow promotion-hopefuls Newcastle Thunder.

March said: “We just had to be patient. They had the momentum after half-time and we might of played a bit boring but that’s how you win games.”

Cougars raced into a 14-point lead inside 15 minutes to stun the home side. Hamish Barnes fought over before he set up two tries for Paul White in three minutes, with the winger managing to outfox Jason Tali and Louis Sheriff on both occasions.

The Keighley advantage looked an unassailable one when Jesse Sheriffe broke through the line and raced over to open up a lead of three converted tries.

However, Newcastle only trailed by six at the interval after finishing the half the stronger of the two sides.

Tali exploited a gap in the defensive line and rounded Jesse Sheriffe before Australian schoolboy international Jordan Meads fought off Jesse’s brother Jode to bring the home side back into the game.

Danny Jones slotted over a penalty after an illegal ball steal on Paul March in what would be the only moment of note in a slow second half until the final 20 minutes.

James Feather put the result beyond any doubt as he dived over from the play the ball before his break and offload sent White home in the corner for his hat-trick.

Meads took a clever Tali offload out the back to race through for a late moment of joy for the withering home support. However, March stole the ball from Tali in a one-on-one on the hooter for his first of the season.