Rugby League: Keighley Cougars 40, Lancashire Lynx 14.

A stunning five-try performance from Matt Foster was the highlight of the Cougars' best victory of the season.

Foster, switched from full back into the centre by caretaker-coach Frank Punchard, was simply irresistible scoring a hat-trick in the first half to set the platform for victory.

Punchard was obviously delighted with his side's performance. He said: "I wanted us to play a more expansive game and we certainly achieved that.

"I think the players have responded very positively and professionally to the situation at the club this week.

"I only had two training sessions with them and there's obviously still some work to be done. We need to work on our one-on-one defence where errors kept them in the game for a long time.

"But Matt Foster really did give us a spark that has been missing this season in the three-quarters. His quality speaks for itself."

The Cougars soon had a 14-point lead with Foster racing in for his first two tries in the seventh and tenth minutes. And then three minutes later Nathan Antonik finished off a fine five-man move.

The Cougars then seemed to switch off and Shaun Geritas went in on the blindside for the Lynx, but Foster then side-stepped with ease through the Lancashire defence to complete his hat-trick inside half-an-hour.

Christian Tyrer was off the mark with his kicking. He could only convert Antonik's try so when Lynx winger Neil Parsley raced through a sloppy defence at the scrum to go 60 yards down the Cougar slope, Danny Jones converting, the Cougars - for all their flair and territorial supremacy - were only leading 20-10 at the break.

The second half, though, soon saw Keighley take control and Foster's fourth try was one of the best seen at Cougar Park for years.

Winger Max Tomlinson popped the ball up for him on the 40-metre mark and he raced over to bring the house down.

Lancashire hit back with a 90-metre try up the touchline from Solomon after he had collected a loose Cougar pass, poor Cougar tackling again letting them down.

But the Cougars finished in real style. Foster bagged his fifth try, racing in from 30 metres out, and then Paul Owen put a lovely inside pass for fellow sub Mark Campbell to go over to complete the Cougar try-scoring.

On a day when the Cougars really shared the work load, the goalkicking was no exception. Keith Dixon landed four goals and David Larder the final conversion to complete a good day's work in difficult times.

Keighley Cougars: Dixon, Tomlinson, Foster, Rich, Wainwright, Tyrer, Antonik, Hall, Robinson, S Campbell, Larder, Schick, Ramshaw. Subs (all used): Owen, Calvert, M Campbell, Stephenson.

Lancashire Lynx: Murray, Rushton, Welch, Jones, Parsley, Alexander, Flanagan, Gildart, Bennett, Priest, D Smith, Geritas, Hodgkinson. Subs (all used): S Smith, Walsh, James, Solomon.

Referee: Graham Shaw (Oldham).

Attendance: 1,695.

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