Keighley Cougars 28, Leigh Centurions 36: A brilliant second-half fightback by the Leigh side saw them turn round a 28-8 half-time deficit to leave Cougar players and fans absolutely devastated.
In the first half Keighley played their best rugby of the season against the league leaders and were more than good value for their half-time lead.
However struggling uphill into a fierce gale they simply couldn't get their game going again and the Centurions capitalised with five well-taken tries to score 28 points of their own without reply.
Probably the most disappointed man in the ground was Cougar coach Karl Harrison. Like most other people he must have thought his team had the game in the bag only to see it slip away.
Harrison said after the game: "I'm devastated, bitterly disappointed and the players too are absolutely gutted.
"They thought they'd done enough to win this game and for at least 55 minutes we played some very, very good football.
"However at that point we lost Ian Hughes and that really turned the game. I'm not criticising the referee but that was a very big call that had a huge impact on the game.
"When Ian was off the pitch Leigh scored three tries down the channel he would normally be defending.''
Leigh grabbed the first try with only their second attack of the game, Adam Bristow going in after Simon Baldwin had fielded a Keiron Purtill kick. But the Cougars hit straight back.
Almost from the restart they looked irresistible and leading the way was the coach's brother Paul Harrison. He scored the Cougars' first two tries.
Nathan Antonik sent him through a huge gap for the first, then a lovely inside pass from Steve Pickles sent him over for a second. Martin Wood converted both and the Cougars led 12-4.
Keighley had a minor setback when Alan Hadcroft went in at the corner but two tries in 90 seconds really looked like proving crucial for Keighley.
In the 32nd minute Richard Smith broke from deep in his own territory before sending out a smart one-handed pass to send Jason Lee racing in.
Then immediately from the restart Hughes collected the kick, spun out of the tackle, and passed to Smith who raced 60 metres down field. Wood converted and Keighley led 22-8.
With seconds left before the half-time hooter Wood's downfield kick was lost by Stuart Donlan and three tackles later Pickles went over from acting half. Wood landing the simple conversion to make it 28-8.
The second half saw Leigh start on top and they were rewarded in the 47th minute when a Donlan midfield break was finished off by Paul Wingfield to make it 28-12.
Nine minutes later Hughes was sinbinned for a late tackle on Anthony Murray and this proved to be the turning point in the game.
Murray was at the heart of everything for the visitors once he came off the bench. From the free kick after he was felled by Hughes he worked field position to send Radney Bowker dummying his way over. Wingfield landed his first conversion and at 28-18 Leigh were creeping too close for comfort.
Wingfield then raced 40 metres on the sixth tackle to score under the posts and with 14 minutes left Leigh trailed 28-24.
Nine minutes from time they then took the lead when a Purtill kick was fumbled on the Cougar line by Wood and Andy Fairclough collected the rebound to dive over, Wingfield's goal making it 30-28.
The killer blow, though, came almost immediately from the restart when Paul Anderson broke through some tired tackling on halfway to send Murray over, Wingfield's goal taking Leigh out of reach and completing the scoring.
Dean Hanger made his first appearance for the Cougars, coming on in the 54th minute. He had little chance to shine but was involved in the game's worst moment when Hadcroft was sent off for stamping on Hanger as he lay on the floor. The Keighley new boy did retaliate but was not dismissed.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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