INJURIES, missed tackles and the gifting of penalties to the opposition conspired to see Sheffield Eagles leapfrog the Cougars into second place in National League Division Two.

The Cougars saw a 10-2 half time lead disappear in a devastating six minute spell at the start of the second half.

Sheffield's awesome pack rolled down the Cougar Park side at will after the break and there was an air of instability for Gary Moorby's men in all three of their second half tries.

The Cougars were not helped by injuries, the loss of Adam Mitchell with a broken collar bone just before the break did little to help matters and caused maximum disruption.

The fact they had to restart with Ollie Wilkes and Ian Sinfield at prop meant they were always going to be out-muscled. Phil Stephenson and Richard Merville re-entered the fray but by then the Cougars trailed 14-10 and never looked capable of finding their first half form.

Mitchell gave Keighley an early lead with a penalty in the second minute. Gavin Brown levelled two minutes after but the Cougars were definitely the team on top at that stage.

They got the first breakthrough when Matt Foster pounced on a wickedly bobbling Jason Ramshaw kick in the 14th minute.

Mitchell converted then added a penalty and at 10-2 the Cougars were well in control of the game.

They should have added more points. Ollie Wilkes went through only to throw a poor pass to Ramshaw.

Then the incident that perhaps turned the game saw Mitchell collect his own chip and chase. He raced forward looking for support with Wilkes outside him.

But with tacklers in attendance, Mitchell was brought down by Eagles full-back Andy Poynter. Wilkes was also felled and landed on top of Mitchell who suffered a game and season ending injury.

Wilkes had a chance of an easy penalty but sliced it just wide and really that was the last clear scoring chance for the Cougars.

After the break, Sheffield took control and radically improved many aspects of their first half performance.

Better ball retention and discipline from the Sheffield side saw the Cougars become increasingly more frustrated as the game wore on.

That in turn brought errors and penalties into the Cougar game instead of the required patience needed to get back on track.

Sheffield signalled their intent in the 45th minute -- Andy Raleigh stole the ball from Ian Sinfield and two plays later, Brown helping to create the Eagles first try after dummying his way through to put Andy Poynter over.

Six minutes later, Sheffield had the lead when Queensbury lad Jon Bruce off-loaded on the Keighley line to put Peter Kelly over. Brown landed two simple conversions following that and suddenly the Eagles had clawed themselves into a 14-10 lead.

Cougar stand-off Mitchell had tried to give his side organisation and had a good kicking game while he was on the field of play.

His loss saw the Cougars take on a one dimensional look and the kicking game became a matter of kick and hope for the best rather than planned and practiced.

Against a strong and resolute defence, the best way to break the side down is with good kicking.

But the second half saw this aspect of Keighley's game, like the others, go awry.

Ironically, it was from one of the better kicks that Sheffield finally put the seal on victory.

Wilkes put a 70 metre drop out downfield but was a tired chase and Andy Raleigh burst through three weak tackles before putting Richard Goddard over with just 8 minutes left.

Brown converted then added an easy penalty and Sheffield had the points and the game in the bag.

It seems Sheffield have been the Cougars bogey team this season as they completed a hat-trick of victories and in doing so cruelly exposed Keighley's lack of size in the front row as the pre play-off league season reaches a crescendo.