Keighley Cougars bounced back from successive defeats to earn a hard-fought victory in an absorbing contest.

Two tries in five minutes early in the second half were enough to earn Lee Crooks' side the important victory which rekindles hopes of a top-five finish in the First Division this season.

Christian Tyrer was the inspiration behind the victory, with the stand-off again proving to be Keighley's best hope of breaking down an opposition defence.

The former Widnes player had a leading role in two of Keighley's tries and scored the other with a superb piece of quick thinking to race in past a dozing Rovers defence.

Tyrer's kicking game throughout the 80 minutes caused Rovers a whole host of problems, and he demonstrated why he is quickly becoming an integral part of Crooks' side.

He was ably supported by former Bradford Bulls hooker Jason Donohue, who grew in confidence during his Keighley debut.

His quick thinking around the play the ball allowed Cougars to keep the pressure on Rovers at vital times, and he backed this up with some important breaks from dummy half.

The victory was ample revenge for Keighley after being crushed 44-2 in the corresponding fixture at Post Office Road earlier in the season.

That game was marred by some extraordinary violence from both sides, but there was never a hint of a repeat last night in a keenly- fought clash.

Keighley's pack were again in dominant form, with some tremendous drives deep into Rovers territory charcaterising their play.

Phil Stephenson deserved special praise for his contribution, although, in truth, the whole pack played their part in a solid performance against dogged opponents.

Cougars started well and took the lead when centre Jason Laurence collected Tyrer's delicate kick over the top to score in the ninth minute.

The rest of the first half was characterised by sloppy play from both sides, with neither making the most of their possession.

Rovers hit back just before the break with a try from Danny Baker before Karl Smith and Tyrer gave Cougars the upper hand just after half-time.

Rovers gave Keighley a few worrying moments after Jamie Coventry cut the deficit with 15 minutes to go, but they held out with some sterling tackles from the forwards.

Crooks was full of praise for Tyrer's sharp thinking for his try in the 53rd minute. He said: "His quick thinking is what he is there to do. Everyone was shouting for him to go for goal, but Christian just kept the ball and went for the try.

"At the end of the day that quick thinking won us the game. You have to take your hat off to Featherstone as they hung in there. We should have won by more and it would have been an injustice if we hadn't won.

"If certain refereeing decisons hadn't been given, we would have run away with the game. The referee sent their guy to the sin-bin, but from then on it appeared that he was trying to even things up. We couldn't get any continuity at all."

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