Keighley Cougars 16, Dewsbury Rams 20

After what he called a below-par performance against basement rivals Dewsbury today, Cougars coach Barry Eaton says his side’s bid to avoid relegation from the Co-operative Championship “is a big task but not an impossible one”.

Cougars led 10-8 against their derby rivals at half-time but by the hour mark had slipped behind 20-10 and couldn’t quite get those ten points back as Dewsbury notched their first league win of the season at the 13th attempt.

“We gave ourselves a bit too much to do in the way we started the second half,” admitted a disappointed Eaton.

“But throughout the game we didn’t complete our sets very well, and they made four or five breaks, which was disappointing.

“And the rain made it a forward-oriented game, which suited Dewsbury more than us.”

However, on the positive side, Eaton could point to some outstanding individual performances.

He said: “Ollie Pursglove was head and shoulders the best player on the field from either side, Chris Baines did extremely well and James Hutchinson was very impressive too.”

Eaton added: “We have a Northern Rail Cup semi-final next weekend, but after that we have seven massive league games coming up.

“We are five points adrift on both Whitehaven and Dewsbury, so we have to pick up two more wins than them between now and the end of the season. It is not an impossible task but it is a big task.”

Cougars’ tries came from Brendon Rawlins and James Feather, Danny Jones adding four goals.

Dewsbury, up to ninth in the table, scored tries through Rob Spicer, Ayden Faals, Pat Walker and Andrew Bostock, former Bull Dominic Brambani kicking two goals.