Here we go again.
Any lingering memory of the magnificent victory over Sheffield was well and truly wiped out by a second heavy defeat in a row. This time it was Hull KR who took the toothless Cougars to pieces.
The progress of recent weeks was forgotten as the bad habits returned for Keighley - dropped balls, silly errors and an awful completion rate.
"We have to take a good look at ourselves," said a frustrated Cougars coach Gary Moorby after the game.
"Our completion rate was less than 50 per cent in both halves, and in this heat it was always going to be hard to play without the ball. I reminded the lads before the game of this and put the hard word on them at half-time, but time and again we lost it on plays one, two or three.
"All we have to do is drive for five and kick for the corners, but we are lacking the experience to do that."
As usual, the Cougars started brightly enough, the effervescent Simeon Hoyle starting and finishing a move to cancel out an early Chris Charles effort.
But Craig Murdock returned to Cougar Park to begin to take the game away from the home side with a try after 20 minutes.
On the half-hour, the Cougars conceded their first penalty and Murdock strolled through again to give the visitors a 16-6 lead. Giant substitute Paul Fletcher and Alisdair McClarron also added scores to leave the Cougars floundering 24-6 at the break.
After a quick reading of the riot act, Keighley came out a little brighter, but losing big prop Lee Kelly on a stretcher with ankle ligament damage slowed down proceedings.
Jamie Bovill then had a questionable effort ruled out for offside after catching a Dane Dorahy drop goal attempt that hit the bar, and the Cougars got back into the game. Fiery replacement Paul Ashton returned after a month in the wilderness to capitalise on a Matti Firth chip and it was 24-12. But it swung back in favour of the visitors with McClarron grabbing a second and Jon Wilkin capitalising on a Danny Fearon error to take the game out of reach.
Home skipper James Rushforth grabbed his ninth try of the season before Fletcher added his second and Dorahy eventually managed his drop goal. As is their want, the Cougars scored last through Matthew Steel.
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