Was this a point lost or a point saved -- it's a bit hard to say.

Certainly with the amount of possession the Cougars had they should have won at a stroll.

Certainly with the number of second half penalties they were awarded they should have at least been able to kick their way to victory, but Jamie Benn had an off night with the boot, and in the end the Cougars were happy to settle for a point saved.

Davide Longo's late touchdown saving the day well into injury time.

Swinton are a good side they tough it out up front and put away their chances well. The Cougars certainly have the ability to match them, the scoreline is evidence of that but whereas Swinton looked consistent throughout the eighty minutes, apart from indiscipline, the Keighley performance was full of peaks and troughs.

For example at half time they looked way too good to be trailing. Yet they turned round 12-8 behind, only two Swinton attacks brought them two tries, Ian Watson and Sean Casey touching down, Steve Gartland adding the conversions.

Keighley had dominated for long periods and got a great start, Benn adding an early penalty before Matt Foster jumped high to collect Christian Tyrer's high cross kick. Eleven minutes gone and the Cougars led 6-0 and looked good.

Another cross kick this time to the right nearly worked, Simon Ashcroft scrambling the ball away, but with their first real attack Swinton levelled through Watson. Benn added a second penalty and as the Cougars looked to pull clear again they were hit with a second sucker punch, Gartland sending Casey through a huge gap right on the stroke of half time.

That was a shame because the Cougars had looked the better side during the first half and had managed to hold Swinton despite being down to 12 men, young Stevie Campbell being harshly sin binned in the 28th minute for interference at the ruck.

When Jimmy Veikoso went through some pretty poor tackling in the 45th minute, Gartland converting, it suddenly looked a real tough task.

But another towering Tyrer kick paid off 8 minutes later. Jason Lee and Gavin Price-Jones both went up for the ball, it came loose to Jason Laurence, and he raced 30 metres to touchdown.

Benn failed to convert, he also failed with two penalties before he added his third of the night and it was 18-14. Jason Ramshaw was turned on his back twice over the line and it looked like being Swinton's night.

In fact I'm sure they thought they had both points in the bag as injury time approached, but at last the Cougars got the break they deserved and it was the lion-hearted Brock McDonald who at last got free. He broke from 10 metres inside his own half, raced clear, drew the defence before sending Davide Longo over for a try that will have been doubly sweet for him against the club he started the season with.

The icing on the cake would have been the conversion from Jamie Benn, but this time it really was too far out for him to give Keighley the perfect ending.

Simon Irving looked dangerous all night and added real quality to the side on his return, Lee Hansen was again his usual impressive self and Mark Campbell did well on his recall. This was a patchy performance full of highs and lows, but one thing is certain, it's never boring watching the Cougars these days.

Cougars: Foster; Benn, McDonald, Laurence, Lee, Tyrer, Robinson, Hansen, Ramshaw, S Campbell, M Campbell, Cain, Irving. Subs: Longo, Antonik, Anderson, Smits.

Swinton: Gartland, Ashcroft, Veikoso, Craig, Price-Jones, Casey, Watson, Blease, Cannon, Mann, Adams, Hulme, P Barrow. Subs: Cleery, Evans, Rogers, T Barrow.

n The Alliance continue to impress and made it seven straight victories with a 52-6 win over Workington. Simon Wray added to his claims for a recall to the first team with a well taken hat-trick. Chris Wainwright bagged a pair and the hugely impressive Pat Rich landed six conversions.

The Academy couldn't make early dominance pay and went down 34-22 to Leigh.

Stuart Calvert got two ties, Richard Moore a try and five goals, Joe Smith was man of the match, Craig Pickthall also impressing on his return to the side.

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