Keighley Cougars 38

London Skolars 10

Centre Matt Foster scored his 100th Cougars try and wingers Andy Robin-son and Matt Bramald both notched hat-tricks as the Cougars snapped their 16-match winless streak against the Skolars.

Foster brought up his milestone in typical fashion - chasing a Matti Firth kick - much to the delight of coach Gary Moorby.

"It is a great achievement by a great player," said Moorby.

"What can you say about him? He was the leading try-scorer in National League One last year in a beaten team, which was an achievement on its own. I am really pleased for him."

Moorby's men have played better and lost plenty of times over the last nine-and-a-half months, but that won't diminish their joy at picking up win bonuses for the first time since their 42-18 victory over Featherstone on May 9 last year.

"They deserve it the money," said Moorby.

"They worked hard all last season without really getting anything for it. They had two tough encounters with Hull KR and got nothing out of it, no points anyway. So this was nice and we'll enjoy it."

The Skolars were solid up the middle and just about held their own in the forward battle but on the flanks the Cougars held a definite edge.

Right wing Bramald went close after just four minutes but it was on the opposite flank that the Cougars enjoyed the most success, with loose forward Daniel Harvey linking well with centre Matt Foster and wing Robinson.

In the tenth minute the trio combined for the opening try, Harvey's skip pass creating the space for Matt Foster to send Robinson over in the corner.

Stand-off Adam Mitchell failed to convert but six minutes later Robinson grabbed his second, coming off his wing to barrel over for a simple try.

Neither side showed a great deal of enterprise in a half beset by penalties but the Cougars were doing just enough to edge it. Scrum half Firth almost split the Skolars defence with some probing runs but it was his boot that finally did the damage, a 25th-minute grubber sitting up nicely for Foster to grab his milestone try.

The Skolars hit back three minutes later when hooker Kirt Pitman forced his way over between the posts from dummy half. Tim Lee added the simple conversion but the two points were cancelled out by Mitchell's 40th-minute penalty and the Cougars went to the break with a 12-point lead.

Bramald got in on the act four minutes into the second half after Paul Ashton's break and delayed pass sent centre Dave Foster clear.

Prop Wayne Parillon forced his way over for the Skolars, only to be held up, and replacement forward Rupert Jonker really should have grounded Gareth Honor's grubber. Added to their frustration at failing to score, the Skolars soon found themselves down to 11 men when loose forward Stuart Singleton (professional foul) was followed quickly to the bin by Jonker (fighting).

The Cougars also lost a man, with hooker Jonny Wainhouse yellow-carded for his part in the scuffle with Jonker, but it hardly halted their momentum, with Bramald crossing for his second on 64 minutes.

Two minutes later Robinson posted his hat-trick, and eight minutes from the end, Bramald followed suit after excellent lead-up work once again by Ashton.

The Skolars deserved their consolation try to wing Ashley Tozer six minutes from time after excellent work by Jonker, but it was Keighley's day.

"It was a frustrating performance, we don't feel we played particularly well," said Moorby.

"We allowed them to dictate the pace a little bit in the first half but when you have two wingers scoring three tries each it is encouraging. It is definitely something to build on. After being used to losing games for quite a long time it was nice to get back to winning. We will enjoy it."