KEIGHLEY Cougars returned to the summit of Betfred League One with a 28-18 victory over promotion rivals Oldham on Sunday.
There was a debut for new loan signing, Izaac Farrell, who contributed to the scoring as the hosts ran in five tries.
It didn’t take long for the Sheffield Eagles’ man to make a telling impact, as he was over for Keighley’s first score of the afternoon after just seven minutes.
The ball was flicked his way, and he made no mistake in darting over to put the ball down. Jack Miller added the extras to give Cougars a 6-0 lead.
Keighley’s second try arrived on minute 29 and what an effort it was.
Charlie Graham pounced on a loose ball before running the full length of the Cougar Park turf to touch down for the home side’s second score of the afternoon.
Once again, Miller added the extras to put his side 12-0 up.
Things got better for the hosts just four minutes later when George Flanagan, right in front of the posts, dived over from dummy half for a converted effort. 18-0 to Cougars.
Ten minutes into the second half, and Oldham would pull a score back through Jordan Turner. Jamie Ellis added the conversion to make it 18-6.
But back came Cougars and a quickfire double from Junior Sa'u, bearing two late consolation tries from the visitors, put the game to bed for the home side.
His first effort arrived on the 60th minute, after he collected a deft kick from Miller to touch down.
Miller added the extras to make it a 24-6 lead heading into the final quarter.
Sa’u’s next try was a relatively simple one. Space opened up for Cougars and they were able to kick the ball through to the winger who was in acres of space to add Cougars’ 5th and final try of the afternoon.
This time, Miller dragged his kick wide.
Oldham did add two late converted tries to reduce the score to 28-18 in favour of the hosts, but it was too little too late with the damage having been done already.
Keighley now sit two points ahead of Oldham at the top of the Betfred League One table, although their promotion rivals do you have a game in hand on the side from Cougar Park.
Up next for Cougars is a trip to Midlands Hurricanes on Sunday (3:00 pm), while Oldham travel to North Wales Crusaders.
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