Keighley Cougars 10, Huddersfield Giants 34: This was a highly commendable performance from Gary Moorby's young Cougar squad.
Down to just 16 fit players before the game and facing unbeaten Huddersfield, even the most die-hard Cougar fan would have been expecting something of a hammering.
But it wasn't to be. In fact, if anything the scoreline didn't do the Cougars justice. Many of the NFP's top sides would have been happy with this scoreline against the division's only full-time squad.
Coach Moorby was suitably upbeat after the game, saying: "We knew that we had to do the basics, and when we've done well in recent games it's been when we've got the basics right.
"We knew that we had to play a percentage game in our half, and we stuck to the game-plan very well.
"They've got a well respected coach who likes to play open football, and we knew that if we got in their faces we would disrupt their go-forward, and we did just that. In the end their size and strength gave them a couple of tries I was a little disappointed with.
"I think that it could have been closer than that, and it certainly wasn't the thrashing that the doom and gloom merchants were predicting."
The Giants led just 12-4 at the break. They scored their first two tries direct from penalties conceded by an otherwise well-disciplined Cougar team.
Paul Reilly and Paul March crossed early on for the Giants, with Rob Roberts and Steve McNamara adding a conversion each.
The Cougars kept in touch thanks to two Paul Ashton penalties, and were lucky not to cross the whitewash themselves. Matthew Steele looked odds-on to score in the tenth minute, only to be hauled down by Reilly inches short of the line, and then late on James Rushforth just failed to collect his own kick through as again a score looked likely.
The Cougars finished on top, and perhaps the half-time hooter came a bit too soon as Reilly dropped a bomb from Matti Firth to give Cougars a scrum on the Huddersfield ten, but at least they jogged into the changing room at half-time with more optimism and encouragement than they could have expected.
The difference between the teams in the second half was the power and experience of former Keighley favourite Roberts. He had a hand in all four second-half Giants tries, putting Reilly over for his second in the 45th minute then going on to complete a hat-trick that owed much to sheer power and size, proving again that he is one of the best forwards outside Super League.
With McNamara adding three of the four conversions, Huddersfield clearly had the points in the bag, but the Cougars never stopped trying.
They managed a consolation try scored in the 64th minute. Max Tomlinson made a great break from inside his own half, which created field position for Danny Fearon to send a superb inside pass to Rush-forth, who went over under the posts with three defenders around him.
The Cougars could have had a couple more tries. Firth and Rushforth looked to have combined to put Ashton over, but he lost the ball under immense pressure on the line, and then with five minutes to go Ashton just lost out on a kick and chase to Giants' full back Reilly, who just about hung on.
This was an impressive performance from an improving Cougars team that, despite many setbacks and the smallest of squads, have shown huge improvement since their 66-0 defeat by the Giants on New Year's Day.
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 hereComments are closed on this article