Jones’ late heroics key Cougars to third victory

With the unenviable record of 46 matches without a victory, stretching back to July 2006, win bonuses for Blackpool Panthers are an endangered species.

Martin Crompton, the Panthers coach would surely give almost anything to secure that all elusive victory. Short of playing on Fantasy Island, or asking Jim to fix it, Blackpool cannot convert their chances into victory.

This season alone has seen them outplay National League One side Featherstone Rovers in the Northern Rail Cup but fail to press home their advantage. Whilst against Swinton they took the lead in the second half before shipping three late tries which deprived them of even a bonus point.

Against an underperforming Cougars on Sunday, the Panthers had their chances, put points on the board, but couldn't put the tie to bed, much to Keighley Cougars' head coach Barry Eaton's relief.

The Cougars had the first and last word in the match, courtesy of Danny Jones' brace of tries, but on a day when they were less then commanding it could have been a different story.

The Cougars took the lead in the ninth minute through Jones' self-converted try, but the lead was short lived. Blackpool fought back and after a quarter of an hour, their own Jones, Carl replied and full back Jon Leather converted to level the score.

Blackpool were now in the ascendancy, showing a belief and desire which at times was bereft of the Cougars.

They netted two further tries through Chris Radcliffe and Leather, both of which Leather converted to establish a 12-point advantage to the home side after 31 minutes.

With half-time fast approaching, the Cougars suddenly looked to cut the arrears and lacerate the Panthers defence. Pace and power was the key to the plays, with recalled speedster Ryan Smith going over in the right hand corner.

On the last play of the half, full back George Rayner locked on to Richard Knight's deft grubber kick to touch down. Both tries went unconverted to give the home side an 18-14 advantage at half-time.

Following the break the Cougars carried on from where they left off, for the first ten minutes. The first eight minutes saw Dan Potter and Karl Smith crash over for Keighley to establish a six-point lead for the visitors.

The second half then followed a remarkably similar pattern to the first with Keighley apparently sleep walking to allow the Panthers to roar back into the match, grabbing a brace of unconverted tries through Eddie Kilgannon and a second for Carl Jones to make it 26-24 as the last quarter approached.

It was only then that the Cougars began to apply the tourniquet. Similarly, it was no coincidence that Jermaine Wray and Brendan Rawlins were once more introduced. The defence stopped haemorrhaging points and with ball in hand the running became more purposeful and a yard faster as the Panthers were forced into a tackling frenzy.

Whilst defending manfully and to the last man it was only a matter of time before Blackpool infringed. The upholder of the rules and commander of the cards, Matt Thomason duly penalised them within striking distance of the posts.

Placement kicking this season has been problematic for the Cougars, with Richard Knight being uncharacteristically hit and miss. At Fylde on Sunday Danny Jones was similarly erratic. On this occasion he found both his range and the mark to claim the two points and parity at 26 all.

On 75 minutes the nugget stand off showed his value to the team with a 24-carat play. Jones kicked the up and under to the posts where full back Leather was poised. He chased down the steepling kick, before taking to the air. Somehow, in mid air Jones wrestled the ball from the Panther full back without infringing. He then dived over the chalk to the right of the posts, before adding the extras to give the visitors a 32-26 lead.

On the stroke of the hooter Jones collected a further two points for a successful penalty kick to clinch the match 34-26 of which his personal tally amounted to 18 points. What price could Danny Jones fetch on the commodities market?

A relieved Eaton said: "Blackpool have come very close to getting that win, and we knew it would be tough.

"I thought we were sloppy at times and possibly showed them too much respect. We conceded two tries that possibly we could have avoided but in the end we ground out that all important win.

"You have got to win when you are not at your best. We now have three wins from three games. We set ourselves this goal at the start of the season and now we have to set ourselves some new goals."