Crestfallen Cougars went down to a last-gasp drop goal against Oldham but boss Peter Roe roared: "They're all winners in my eyes."

Keighley battled back from an early 14-0 deficit to give their more illustrious hosts a real run for their money at Boundary Park.

Tries from the inspirational Phil Stephenson, Alex Brown, Scott Nixon and teenage debu-tant Andy Feather meant the Cougars seemed set for the first points of their Northern Rail Cup campaign after losses

against Halifax and Rochdale.

Oldham-born Richard Knight had slotted all four conversions, which meant the scores were locked at 24-24 with two minutes remaining.

But then Chris Hough step-ped up with the deciding drop kick to leave Roe's men empty-handed once more.

The boss wasn't dismayed though, having seen his young side - without experienced playmaker Barry Eaton - de-liver a massively encouraging

show following a second-half walloping versus Rochdale the previous Sunday.

"It was hard losing like that but win, lose or draw I was

delighted with what I saw out there from the players," said Roe.

"They deserved to pick up winning pay and they didn't. There's a massive difference between what they could have got and what they did and I'm gutted for them but it was a great performance.

"We played as we trained, we did it all without Barry, who has a shoulder injury we didn't want to risk, and it was one

of the most courageous efforts I've ever been involved with at Keighley."

After the 46-18 hammering by Rochdale, Roe wanted an improved showing in spirit and application if nothing else yesterday.

After Oldham got off to that flier, it looked like they were heading for another morale-zapping bashing by loftier opposition. "It wasn't tight after ten minutes when we were 14-0 down," said Roe. "We weren't able to defuse two bombs down Andrew Jack-son's side and Oldham scored two tries and kicked the goals.

"But suddenly we decided to start playing and we matched them - if not played better - up until the final two minutes when they got that drop goal. Everyone came out of that game with credit."

Kiwi Nixon moved to scrum half to replace Eaton and 19-year-old Andy Feather debuted at stand-off. Hooker James Feather - another Academy product - also got a shot.