Mansson routs Cougars

The Cougars were completely destroyed by a devastating 20-minute blitz two minutes into the second half.

At that point it was 14-8 to the Dragons and Keighley could have counted themselves unlucky to be behind. From the 45th to the 65th minute Doncaster racked up 44 points, orchestrated by the superb Paul Mansson.

He created six out of seven second half tries in a display that won him the Buddies National League Cup Performance of the Week award and it was significant that the point scoring ended when he took a well earned break in the 65th minute.

Ironically former Cougar favourite Jason Lee started the second half onslaught. He took a superb pass from Mansson to race 65 metres upfield and score. Mansson then burst the Cougars line again before sending former Leeds man Marvin Golden racing clear two minutes later.

Five minutes after that the misery got worse for Keighley as a Mansson chip-kick caused havoc in a by now mesmerised defence. Before Cougars could get their act together Richard Baker nipped in to score.

It can be a cruel game at times and one of the hardest rules at the moment is that the team conceding the try has to kick off to the scoring side.

This meant that Keighley did not touch the ball for those devastating 20 minutes as a kick-off try, kick-off try scenario developed.

Mansson then put Craig Lawton over twice in three minutes before Lee put Peter Edwards over in the 62nd minute.

The final insult was Mansson's last act. Again he broke from midfield but this time he sent substitute prop Tony Ather racing away - outpacing a broken Cougars defence.

Woodcock converted to land his eighth goal and although there were still 15 minutes left he completed the scoring.

The Cougars should have had a consolation try with five minutes left when Danny Fearon did a plausible Mansson impersonation by breaking from midfield.

Unlike the Kiwi, though, he delayed his pass too long, putting the ball behind Adam Mitchell and the chance was gone. It rather summed up the Cougars day really.

If Mansson was the dominant character in the second half, referee Nick Oddy stole the show before the break.

He awarded 24 penalties in all before half-time and it made for desperate viewing. Doncaster were the worst culprits, conceding 15 first half penalties. After the break significantly they conceded just the one.

The Dragons took an early lead when giant prop Jamie Fielden virtually walked through two Cougars defenders, Woodcock converting to make it 6-0.

Keighley hit back almost immediately, getting on level terms in the eighth minute. Phil Stephenson off-loaded ten metres out and nothing was on as Matty Firth faced a wall of Doncaster defenders. But he danced his way in and out to touch down under the sticks. Ashton converted and then traded penalties with Woodcock to make it 8-8.

For a spell the Cougars dominated and were unlucky not to take the lead when James Rushforth raced on to a lovely Ashton pass.

He looked to be clear only for that man Mansson to somehow ankle tap him, causing a stumble and suddenly the chance was gone.

They certainly didn't deserve to be behind at half-time and shouldn't have been, given Doncaster's ill discipline.

But two minutes from the break another big run from Fielden was halted by a posse of Cougar defenders on the line. As he played the ball he stepped forward taking out at least two defenders and allowing Peter Green to dive over from acting half.

It looked like obstruction but instead gave Doncaster the psychological edge at the break that they built on.

"Once again we turned on our Jekyll and Hyde act," admitted coach Gary Moorby. "We saw this game as probably our hardest test so far, yet stood toe to toe with them for most of the first half. But in a carbon copy of the Hull KR game we conceded just before and immediately after the interval and then they ran riot for 20 minutes."