KEIGHLEY COUGARS 42

GLOUCESTERSHIRE ALL GOLDS 18

All Golds matches are getting to follow a familiar pattern, writes Chris Wilson.

The side competes hard and is a match for its opponents, however, there comes a point when the opposition break through and the All Golds succumb meekly.

The resulting scoreline ends up with a lopsided look that is not truly deserved. Such was the case at Cougar Park against a good Keighley side that know that they were given a game for an hour.

The skills and experience of Keighley captain Paul Handforth and the goal-kicking of his halfback partner Adam Brook steered the Cougars to their win but it was certainly not as comfortable as the scoreline makes out.

Guided by an excellent debut from scrum half James Rowland, the All Golds were well in the game and had their goal-kicking been more sure-footed, they would have been level at 24-24 midway through the second half.

The All Golds had plenty of possession early on with three full sets on the Cougars line however, they couldn’t get through and once the Cougars got up the other end, they fashioned the chance for Hamish Barnes to score.

The visitors shook off that disappointment and Rowland dummied his way over for a 14th minute try. Seven minutes later he half escaped a tackle and gave Brad Kislingbury the scoring pass.

The scrum half’s kicking and distribution was driving the All Golds forward and ten minutes later, his wide pass seemed to have given Josh Allison a walk-in try though the referee chalked it off for a forward pass.

The Cougars made the most of their reprieve and Charlie Martin gave them the lead again after Ritchie Hawkyard’s superb offload gave him just enough room to dive in at the corner.

Hawkyard himself went in after the All Golds missed a succession of tackles on their own line and with Brook’s three goals, the Cougars’ had dug themselves out of a hole to lead 18-8 at the break.

In the first attack of the second period, Rowland produced a sublime pass to Joe McClean and the second row marked his 50th game for the club with a try under the posts. Jamie Murphy converted to make the score 18-14.

The Cougars reply was not long in coming as the All Golds’ defensive line failed to come up as a unit and Barnes sliced through for his second try of the game.

The tit-for-tat scoring continued. Twelve minutes into the half, the visitors forced a goalline dropout for the third time in the game and Lamont Bryan somehow powered his way over in the corner.

Both sides had scored four tries but Brook’s goalkicking had the home side 24-18 in front.

The All Golds held out with some effective, if at times desperate, defence before Handforth brought Ash Lindsay with him and supplied the perfect pass for a try by the posts converted by Brook.

The tipping point had been reached.

The Cougars rolled up field won a penalty and Brook added his sixth goal of the day. With five minutes left Handforth sent Scott Law trotting to the line Brook maintaining his perfect record with the boot with the goal.

In the final minute, Andy Gabriel finished matters touching down after taking an inventive through-the-legs pass to score. Brook missed his only kick of the game to end a satisfactory day for the promotion hopefuls.