KEIGHLEY Cougars’ away day woes continued as they were defeated 34-20 by Workington Town at Derwent Park in League 1.

Despite a battling performance from Keighley, the home side took the opportunities presented to them to inflict a third consecutive loss on the road for Rhys Lovegrove’s side.

Cougars started the game brighter and their early pressure paid off.

Quentin Laulu-Togaga’e, returning from injury, sent a long ball over the top to Josh Slingsby, with the young winger diving home in the corner for his first professional try.

The first half swung back and forth between the two sides, and Workington took the lead through two quickfire scores.

A knock-on allowed the home side a fresh set of six and Jake Moore fought his way over after Jamie Doran broke the Keighley line.

And just a matter of minutes later, a set restart saw Town work the ball across the face of the line and Brad Holroyd scored in the corner after stepping through an attempted tackle.

Momentum swung back to the away side and after staunch defence kept Dalton Desmond-Walker at bay, Brenden Santi turned through a tackle on the line to ground the ball.

From the restart, a penalty gave Keighley the opportunity to work down the field and an outrageous offload out the back from Laulu-Togaga’e found Slingsby, who in turn dived over in the corner for his second try of the afternoon.

However, Workington took the lead into half-time despite outstanding defensive efforts from Alfie Seeley and Jake Webster to deny the hosts.

A high tackle allowed the home side to put pressure on the Keighley line, and veteran Rhys Clarke was the beneficiary as he powered over from close range.

Charlie Graham had an opportunity to restore the Cougars’ advantage just before the hooter sounded, but he was denied on the line.

The home side started the second half stronger, making the most of errors and penalties from their visitors, and extended their lead through Holroyd.

A knock-down from Seeley saw the tackle count restarted and his opposite number weaved through after catching the defensive line sleeping.

But resilience started to show from Keighley, and they got back within four points after Taylor Prell powered his way on the back of great play from Webster and Kyle Kesik.

Kesik tried to drag his side back into the lead, but Alex Young recovered and denied Slingsby a hat-trick from the captain’s clever grubber.

Workington won possession to go the length of the field, and after a wicked bounce wrong footed Laulu-Togaga’e, Jack Miller produced an outstanding defensive play that left the entire ground in amazement, as he denied Joe Brown a certain four pointer.

The visitors had chances to get back into the game with Miller first being held up, before Arnold spilt the ball on the back of a line break.

But Keighley became the creators of their own downfall in the closing stages of the afternoon and the game’s toll affected tiring bodies.

After being penalised for obstruction, a Cougars voice raised the ire of Gareth Hewer and the referee marched them further down the field for dissent.

Caine Barnes was the man who made the most of the opportunity this presented as he showed great strength to force his way over.

Chris Thorman’s side put the game to bed minutes later on the back of a handling error.

That allowed Workington to regain possession on halfway and work their way to the line, from where Matty Henson squeezed over from close range.