KEIGHLEY Cougars returned to winning ways in stunning fashion, easing to an 84-6 League One victory away at Hemel Stags.

Craig Lingard’s side found themselves 16-0 up after just eight minutes with Andy Gabriel getting the scoring underway after he pounced on a Matty Beharrell kick, which was left to bounce by the Stags full back

Adam Ryder powered over from close range before Adam Brook stole the ball in a one-on-one, allowing Ritchie Hawkyard to play Josh Tonks in from eight metres out.

The Cougars extended their lead when Tonks turned provider to send Ryder over for his second before Hemel got on the scoreboard as Marcus Elliott intercepted Hawkyard’s pass and raced 80 metres to score.

The visitors looked likely to score every time they got near the Stags' line, and restored their 20-point advantage when James Feather went from dummy half to find his way underneath the posts.

There was a suspicion of offside in the Cougars' next try as both Gabriel and Ryder appeared to be in front of a Beharrell kick but linked up to send the scrum half over.

The Beharrell-Gabriel combination struck once more seven minutes from half-time as Beharrell showed quick hands to get the winger over in the corner.

Brendon Rawlins had the final say of the half, taking the ball 30 metres out and scoring a superb solo effort as he fended off a number of would-be tacklers before crashing over.

Cougars started the second half in the same vain with Ryder completing his hat-trick as he raced half the length of the field to dive over in the corner.

The half-century was achieved when Hawkyard dived beneath the uprights from a Brook offload and, from the restart, Keighley worked their way downfield with Tonks offloading out of the tackle to send Brad Nicholson over.

There was a temporary lull in proceedings before the Cougars scored once more as Ryder showed great power after Gabriel kept the ball alive to fight over for his fourth try of the afternoon.

Rawlins added his second 12 minutes from time after racing over from 30 metres after Beharrell created the space – before completing his hat-trick after Hawkyard and Alex Williams were sin-binned.

There was still time for Gabriel to complete his hat-trick from a Darville break with Mike Emmett also powering over.