Keighley Cougars 8, York 10; Match Report by Richard Sutcliffe.

Jamie Benn proved the decisive factor on his return to former club Keighley as he helped York win a war of attrition in the mud.

The diminutive full back grabbed a touchdown and kicked a goal - crucially the only conversion of the game - to condemn Cougars to their second successive two-point defeat.

Benn converted his own try in the 53rd minute to cap a fine comeback from York after Keighley had carved out an eight-point lead when attacking down the slope.

However, Martin Wood was unable to add either conversion or a ninth-minute penalty, and this cost Cougars dear.

It was a real blood-and-thunder clash between committed teams who battled hard against both each other and the wet and windy conditions.

The weather certainly made it difficult for the players to throw the ball out wide and this, in turn, meant it was never going to be the open type of game which summer rugby has created.

The game did remain compelling right until the final whistle though, with both sets of players giving everything.

Understandably, it was the Cougars pack which caught the eye. Jason Ramshaw, in lively form at dummy half, helped create Keighley's opening try in the seventh min-ute when his pass allowed Stuart Calvert to cross in the corner.

Unfortunately, the half-back pairing of Nathan Antonik and Martin Wood found it hard to open up a tough York defence who often resorted to using the elbow and dropping on after a tackle had been completed to unsettle Cougars.

Karl Smith tackled well and prevented two certain tries with last-gasp efforts in the first half, while the rest of the Keighley side stuck doggedly to their defensive tasks all afternoon.

However, lack of creativity was their undoing, with only one further touchdown being created despite Cougars enjoying the lion's share of possession.

This 33rd-minute try was Keighley's most intelligent move of the game as they took the ball forward five times, with a forward making around ten metres each time.

This was the most sensible option in the conditions, and when Wood put a delicate kick through on the final tackle, Benn failed to collect the ball and David Larder dropped on it to score.

Wood failed to add the goal, but Cougars looked reasonably safe at this stage, only for individual errors to cost them dear.

On the stroke of half-time, Matt Lambert crossed in the corner after the Keighley defence failed to get across in time.

Benn missed the conversion, but 13 minutes after the break another large hole appeared in the Cougars line, and Benn raced over to level the scores at 8-8.

The full back, who had a spell with Keighley last season, kicked the resulting conversion and, despite Cougars battling hard, they lacked the quality to open up York and it was the visitors who were celebrating at the final whistle.

Cougars coach Lee Crooks said: "I could not fault the effort of the players, because it was a very different performance from the one at Bramley.

"But we failed to take advantage of our territorial superiority. I think we must have had 70 per cent of the play.

"I hope people realise it was not an afternoon where we could have thrown the ball about."

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