Cougars 32, Leigh 16

ONE Swallow doesn't make a summer, and one victory doesn't set the season alight, but it did feel good to clinch a first win.

You could see on the faces of the young Cougar side how much this meant to them, they went from a sense of relief to actually enjoying themselves for the first time this season.

The scoreline was deceptive. Make no mistake Cougars dominated this game from start to finish, the visitors were only kept in the game by a couple of errors and two silly penalties - the Cougars gifting Leigh all their points.

Errors again held the Cougars back, but thankfully Leigh were worse, and once they settled down a bit Keighley looked a good side once again.

Chris Robinson got his side off to a flying start, Dave Larder and Mark Campbell combining superbly to send him over - 'Robbo' adding the conversion - and only three minutes had gone.

Leigh added a penalty before the Cougars scored again, this time a superb inside pass from Peter Walsh, which only Jason Lee saw, allowed the Welshman to run in.

At 10-2 things looked quite cosy for the Cougars, Leigh hardly threatened, but a Jason O'Loughlin grubber kick was fumbled by the diving Matt Foster and Ian Hudspith pounced, O'Loughlin adding his second goal to put Leigh right back in the game at 10-8.

Again the Cougars dominated, but crucial errors let them down. Darren Summerill and Kris Kirk both went close before Jason Ramshaw spun on the line to dive over and Robinson converted.

But once again Cougars gifted Leigh points and let them off the hook. A crossing movement gave Leigh a simple penalty and O'Loughlin duly obliged.

At the break it was 16-10, and you wondered why it was still so close, all the Cougars had to do was settle down a bit and they would win comfortably.

Matt Foster was superb all afternoon, apart from that one fumble behind his own line, he produced a huge yardage count as Leigh failed to cope with his runs out of defence. He also ran in a crucial try.

Summerill and Stevie Campbell both went close, the ball was moved wide, Larder's inside pass sent Foster racing inn. Robinson converted and at 22-10 Cougars looked ready to pull away.

Instead they again gifted Leigh a second try which was real Keystone Cops stuff. Fred Sapatu had looked good, clearly settling in and looking fitter, but his one error was sliced by Ramshaw straight into the arms f John Costello who raced 30 metres unopposed, Anthony Morray converting.

At 22-16 Leigh were well and truly back in it, and would have been even nearer but for a brilliant try-saving tackle by Foster on Mark Kay.

From then on there was no looking back.

A long pass from Ramshaw sent Dave Smith crashing over, Kirk and Lee got in each other's was as they dived for a John Edwards pass.

Steve Campbell was held on his back, and in the dying seconds Kirk dived over to seal a very good, and very much needed victory.

"It was great to get a win under our belts, and the lads performed pretty well, but we still have a long way to go."said coach Lee Crooks.

"As I said before I haven't a magic wand, but improvements will come over the next few weeks. There are area's all over the place where we can improve, but there aren't enough hours in the day to do it all at once.

"Now we have to build on our improvements week by week and make sure we don't slide backwards. We have to continue to put in the hard work on the training field and then we will reap the rewards in our matches.

"But if we drop in our standards on the training field we will be digging a hole for ourselves come the weekend," he said.

Cougars: Foster; Kirk, Walsh (Billy 56), Summerill, Lee; Edwards, (M Campbell 75), Robinson; Stephenson (S Campbell 28), Ramshaw, Julian M Campbell (Smith 60), Roberts (Sapatu 19), Larder.

Leigh Centurians - Donlan; Burgess (Hilton 65), Hadcroft, Fairclough, Kay; Ingram, O'Loughlin (Jenkins 50); Street, Hudspith, Pucill, Cotello, Geritas (Smith 50), Murray.

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