Gateshead Thunder 26, Keighley Cougars 30 - A Gorden Tallis-style drag by Oliver Wilkes saved the Cougars from an unthinkable defeat yesterday.

Returning from a three-match suspension, the former Super League player yanked hapless Thunder teenager Neil Thorman a good 15 yards back behind his own whitewash to force the drop-out.

His aggressive - but just legal - maneouvre lifted a pathetic Keighley side, and two tackles later David Foster was over and the Cougars were back in the game.

But they should never have found themselves eight points behind to a Gateshead side who haven't won for well over a year.

Skipper James Rushforth scored the winning try with eight minutes left to give the Cougars a 30-26 success - their first on the road in the league this season - but that cannot excuse the performance that went before.

"I never had any doubt we were going to win," said a surprisingly upbeat Gary Moorby after the game.

"I knew we had just had to be patient, complete our sets, and we would be able to wear them down.

"Things started well, everything went to plan and we completed our sets and deserved to take an early 12-point lead.

"Then, same old story. We pressed the self-destruct button and made some silly errors.

"But let's not take anything away from Gateshead - they battled hard, played with a lot to spirit and did very well. They are due a win here at some point.

"But at the end of the season you will look back on this game and see the two points. The performance will be forgotten."

In bright sunshine the Cougars played out a dramatic and entertaining game, but it was unfortunate that they seemed to find a closely-matched opponent in Thunder, who played with the same error-strewn naivety as their visitors.

The game started as you would expect at the Thunderdome, with a strong, powerful Keighley side easily finding gaps in the second-most porous defence in the league.

Mick Durham was the first to burst through after ten minutes with Lee Patterson, introduced into the kicking role for the first time, bagging a beautiful conversion.

The Matti Firth scooted in with a little help from Danny Fearon to make it 12-0 after only ten minutes.

Ritchie Barnett then beat stepfather Max Tomlinson to a 'bomb' to nab a try against the run of the play before hooker Simeon Hoyle resumed normal service with a score after good work by Rushforth.

But then followed a spectacular, but inexcusable, display of ineptitude that allowed Gateshead, beaten twice already by the Cougars this season, back into the game.

Paul Thorman, Micky Walker (twice) and Craig Fisher all took advantage of some woeful defending to give the home side a surprise lead.

Wilkes then performed his committed heroics, inspiring Foster and then Rushforth to score the winning tries and save the Cougars' blushes.

But, whatever the result, there is no hiding from the performance by the Cougars, who plunged to new depths at times in this encounter.

Unless something dramatic happens in the next six days, Huddersfield Giants could be recording a cricket score at Cougar Park next week.