Cougars 18, Workington 22

THE BLOSSOMING partnership between Matt Foster and Jason Lee shone like beacon from a dismal Cougar show.

Following their glowing performance against Swinton, the pair teamed up again for the best try of a match which the Keighley side should have wrapped up against Whitehaven.

Once again Foster made a 60-yard break, Lee was caught at the play-the-ball, but former fullback Foster showed real determination to power over.

Cougar fans have been starved of such scintillating action since the partnership of Nick Pinkney and Andy Eyres terrorised opposition defences and sent their team on their way to League and Premiership glory. This 1999 partnership still has room to grow before it reaches that level, but the signs are promising.

However, the moments of brilliance in Sunday's 80 minutes were far outweighed by the number of slip-shod errors. Poor defending, terrible handling and easy goal attempts which went begging revealed a lack of concentration which is essential in the current high-speed game.

It was a sad way to start new coach Frank Punchard on his full-time managerial career.

After three straight wins as caretaker coach, his side should have been able to add the reward of another two points on his first day in charge. The opening exchanges were promising, but the team failed to convert their domination of possession into points on the board -- at times they seem almost embarrassed to be taking the lead.

Martin Wood landed an early penalty, but then missed two that were just as easy, and themisses were to prove very costly. He also launched the towering kick that led to the first try, Jason Lee collecting the ball on the third attempt to score in the corner.

Workington gradually ground their way into the game led superbly by Andy Platt, but they we rehelped considerably by schoolboy errors.

David Larder failed to play the ball properly and with the next set of six, Mick Dempsey went over, pouncing on a short range grubber, Evan Cochrane adding the goal to equalise.

Turning round tying 6-6 the Cougars still had grounds for optimism.

But their job got a whole lot tougher when they let the ball bounce dead from the kick off. From the drop out Workington scored, Craig Stalker going over out wide.

Foster took an early knock through a clash of heads, and was quiet except for his 60 yard break, and looked set to score but for a brilliant cover tackle from Stalker. Lee was tackled at acting half, but Foster scrambled over and Woods' touchline conversion made the score 12-10.

There was no time to enjoy the lead though. Alex Smits was penalised for not playing the ball correctly, an error that effectively cost eight points, Cochrane landing the penalty and from the re-start Town worked the ball upfield, got to the Cougar line where the defence watched as Mick Jenkins sstrolled over from acting half -- again they had to chase the game.

But chase it they did. Foster looked to have got Lee over, but the Welshman just lost the difficult ball on the line. They looked to have got away with it when with eight minutes on the clock, Phil Stephenson brilliantly spun out of two tackles to reach out and score. Wood added the goal and at 18-16 the game looked in the bag.

The next set of six saw a poor kick downfield, and Town attacked, hitting the Cougars down the right flank, Allen cutting back on the angle to dive past Jason Ramshaw's despairing lunge, Dempsey's conversion rubbed salt into the wounds.

Further drama followed. In the build up to the try Cochrane had gone crashing through the hoardings and into the terrace, ending up a serious head injury and a spell in hospital.

The Cougars tried desperately to get back on terms, but there was nothing left in the tank as Workington held out for a victory which should have been beyond their grasp.

Cougars: Calvert, Tomlinson, Foster, Smith, Lee, Robinson, Antonik, Hall, Larder, S Campbell, M Campbell, Schick, Wood. Subs: Owen, Ramshaw, Smits, Stephenson.

Workington: Stalker, Wallace, Allen, Keenan, Woodcock, Roden, Dempsey, Armstrong, Jenkins, Heaton, Forber, Samuel, Cochrane. Subs: Fisher, Knox, Riley. Platt.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.