KEIGHLEY Cougars moved three points clear of West Wales Raiders a 50-18 victory in the Betfred League One basement battle at Cougar Park.
The Cougars were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Pride movement and capped of a day of festivities by seeing off a dogged Raiders outfit.
Keighley opened the scoring from a scrum as the ball was fed to Macauley Hallet and the centre sold a superb dummy to mark his 100th career appearance with a try.
Keighley were then punished against the run of play as Mitch Shaw shot out of dummy half and burrowed his way over the line.
Jason Muranka thought he had restored advantage for the Cougars after pouncing on a Jack Miller grubber, but the effort was disallowed for offside.
The Cougars would re-take the lead shortly before half-time as Will Cooke managed to finish a difficult week personally with a superb individual try.
And then shortly before the sound of the hooter, Jack Miller raced home beneath the uprights after Spencer Darley broke the line and put the try on a plate.
Keighley continued their momentum after the hooter when a Miller grubber was pounced on by Benn Hardcastle, but the try was overshadowed by a brawl sparked in back play.
The tackle before Miller’s grubber had seen Hallett receive a facial from Alan Pope that led to the centre needing treatment, but only after the two exchanged blows and were both sent to the sinbin.
Sam Baker scored for the visitors, going through in the corner on the back of great work from Tyler Hunt.
Hunt found himself as the third man to see yellow in the game, luckily avoiding red for a dangerous late tackle on Alfie Seeley.
Christopher Cullimore showed great tenacity to get through a tackle and send Jamie Thackray crashing over from close range.
Another two quickfire tries followed, the first seeing Miller score his second on the back of a break from Davey Dixon. Hardcastle adding the extras for his 500th career conversion.
Hardcastle sealed a brace from himself, throwing the dummy and strolling through to dive over.
The Raiders wouldn’t go down without a fight and got over through Morgan Evans as he powered his way over.
Miller completed his hat-trick, racing to the line once more after a break from Taylor Prell before Muranka got his try with two minutes remaining.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here