Keighley Cougars turned in one of their worst performances of the season to suffer a crushing 28-16 defeat against high-flying Hull Kingston Rovers.

And it was again a lack of creativity going forward which cost Lee Crooks' side dear to leave Cougars with an uphill battle if they are to realise their goal of a place in the top five.

Cougars' half-back pairing of Christian Tyrer and Davide Longo were disappointingly outclassed by their opposite numbers with Rovers' scrum half Wayne Parker being allowed to dictate the pace of the game far too easily.

He scored two tries and set up another for winger Richard Smith in a superb individual performance which the Keighley defence just could not match.

In contrast, Longo had probably his most anonymous match yet for Keighley and failed to create anything of substance all afternoon.

Alongside the former Bulls player, Tyrer battled gamely and did manage to set up two tries with intelligent kicks to the corner for Matt Foster and Brock McDonald and another for Grant Anderson with a good pass.

However for the rest of the game he seemed to be off the pace and with both Jon Gwilliam and Paul Owen also struggling in their spells at dummy half, it meant Keighley's attacking play was far too slow.

This, in turn, meant the forwards were receiving the ball with the Rovers defence in close attendance and they struggled to make good yardage as a result.

Adam Fogerty was probably Keighley's best player as the giant prop took the ball forward well and was always looking to off-load in the tackle.

Unfortunately, too many of his team-mates could not follow his lead and despite going in at half-time level on points there was only ever going to be one winner in the second 40 minutes.

The opening quarter was a poor advert for First Division rugby with both sides showing an alarming inability to play out their sets of six without making a mistake.

Both sides' kicking games were also awful with the best effort coming from Fogerty when the ball was thrown to the big prop by mistake after 15 minutes.

Five minutes later, however, Rovers had taken the lead through Paul Fletcher before Grant Anderson hit back with a try following intelligent play by both Tyrer and Larder.

Parker grabbed his first try after 29 minutes only for Keighley to again draw level through Matt Foster.

The 10-10 scoreline at the break was probably a fair one as neither side had done enough to lead but once Paul Fletcher walked through the Keighley defence two minutes after the restart, Cougars had the look of a beaten side.

They continued to battle gamely but the lack of a spark when in possession meant Cougars could not break down the Rovers defence.

Further Hull tries followed for Richard Smith and Parker as Keighley's performance got progressively worse and when Brock McDonald grabbed a try in the final minute it was a mere consolation.

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