Cougars 28, Whitehaven 20 Chris Baines claimed 20 points from a try and eight goals as Cougars cemented a home play-off qualifying semi-final with a hard-fought victory over Whitehaven.

Player-coach Jason Demetriou and his side will now face Workington in two weeks with a place in the Grand Final at stake.

Demetriou said: “In my opinion, today saw the best two teams in the competition outside of Swinton (the newly-crowned champions) going toe to toe.

“We’ve now earned the right to play at home by coming second in the league and there’s no-one in the competition who we haven’t now beaten at some stage.

“But we also know there is still a lot of work to be done before we get promotion.”

A tense opening half hour saw two Carl Rudd penalties cancelled out by two from Baines.

Loose forward Baines then nudged the home side ahead for the first time with a further penalty three minutes before the break and almost straight from the kick-off Cougars ran in the opening try through Will Cartledge, following a Demetriou break.

Baines converted to give Cougars a 12-4 half time advantage.

The visitors responded five minutes after the interval when Craig Calvert grabbed a converted try back, but another Baines penalty and Cartledge’s second try gave Cougars a ten point cushion.

Scott McAvoy scored again for Haven on the hour but three minutes later Baines eased any nerves by crossing the whitewash and converting his own try.

A late Kurt Wilton touchdown for Whitehaven proved academic, as Baines sealed victory and second place in the final Co-operative Championship table with his eighth goal two minutes from time.