Oldham 14, Cougars 24 - JASON LEE added the final flourish to a masterpiece of rugby league as Cougars raced to second place in the Northern Ford Premiership -- just one point behind the leaders.

Wednesday night's game at Oldham was a classic battle with two young and super-fit sides fighting all the way to the final whistle.

And the atmosphere at Boundary Park was as red-hot as the temperature was cold. An icy wind blew into the stands as over 1,000 travelling fans challenged the huge Oldham support, but Oldham is another club plagued with gatemen who cannot count. The official crowd figure of 2,528 was a gross under-estimate, add another thousand and you will be nearer the mark.

Lee's last-minute try was a classic of quick-thinking. Wood's kick for touch was blocked by the Oldham defence but as it bounced up Lee pounced, snatched the ball from in front of the defenders eyes and raced to the line before diving under the posts in celebration. Martin Wood's fourth conversion was the final kick of an enthralling match.

If Lee's try was the icing on a delicious cake, Wood had mixed the ingredients with a style which would have delighted Delia Smith. He prompted, probed and pushed his team all evening as they traded scores with the hard tackling and determined Oldham outfit.

With 11 minutes to go the home side had a 14-12 lead and it was Wood who battled through the solid defence for the try which gave Cougars the lead for the third and decisive time.

But it had been far from an easy ride, Oldham were defending their own seven-match winning run and opened up with a try from Warren Barrow which gave warning they were not going to let things slip without a fight.

Jason Ramshaw replied with a typical powerhouse try from dummy-half before former Cougar Dave Gibbons scored Oldham's second which Pat Rich, also a Cougar Old Boy, converted for a 10-6 lead.

The first 40 minutes had been tough and the second period was equally unrelenting with both sides tackling each other into submission. Keighley's extra fitness and additional ounce of determination finally had the edge.

Phil Stephenson added the first of three Cougar second-half tries, pushing Keighley into the lead, but the home side fought their way back -- and gave their fans an incredible boost -- when Mark Sibson put them back into the lead as the game went deep into its later stages. Cougars pounded the home defence, but they kept the normally rampant Cougar left-wing combination quiet all night. Max Tomlinson, on the right, produced another impressive performance both in attack and defence.

Paul Owen's normally elusive runs were swallowed up time after time and the forwards continued their unrelenting attack on the Oldham line.

Ramshaw set up Wood and his slippery twist out of Leo Casey's tackle was the telling moment, his kick giving Cougars an 18-14 lead.

All they had to do was hold out as the electronic scoreboard counted down the seconds. Two Cougar errors went unpunished before Lee snatched any hope of victory from Oldham's grasp.

Oldham: Sibson; Hayes, A Gibbons, Rich, Barrow, D Gibbons, Roden; Casey Hough, Clegg, Farrell, McMenemy, Manion. Subs: Holland, Proctor, Campbell, Sinfield.

Cougars: Hanger; Tomlinson, Smith, Hallas, Ramshaw, Boothroyd, Harrison, Hughes, Wood. Subs: Owen,Walker, Stephenson, Pickles.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.