COUGARS opened their pre-season campaign with real promise - and heartbreak.

Adam Mitchell looked determined to make a real impact on the 2006 season, but 20 minutes after kick off he was left in agony after breaking his left leg in an innocent-looking tackle. An operation was carried out at Airedale Hospital on Monday, but he is expected to be out of action for the rest of the season.

Before his injury he had helped set up a 16-0 lead over the Bulldogs, who will be playing in National League 1 and had a real point to prove against the Cougars, who will be in the lower division.

The game was part of Phil Stephenson's Testimonial season and the forward who is in his 14th, and probably last, season with the club was also obviously looking forward to the start of the season.

Mitchell together with player-coach Barry Eaton were leading the young Cougar side with flair.

After eight minutes Academy player Tobias Williams showed a tremendous turn of speed to break down the left and set up impressive centre Michael Fogarty who touched down on his debut with the club.

Eaton converted and followed up with an inch-perfect 40:20 kick that put the Bulldogs back under pressure. Once again Williams was in the thick of the action and Eaton supplied the telling pass that gave trialist centre Darren Nixon the room to force his way through a desperate defence and reach out to touch down on the right wing.

If the game had ended there coach Peter Roe, and the fans, would have been more than happy with their scouting from the amateur ranks. In Fogarty and Nixon he appears to have uncovered two centres with the ability to make a huge impact.

Just 10 minutes into the game and the Cougars had an unexpected 10-point lead and there was more to come.

It was obviously more than just a celebration run out for Stephenson and he blasted through the Batley defensive line and set up the move that eventually saw Mitchell throw an outrageous dummy and side-step his way through the floundering Batley side to touch down. Eaton's second conversion put the Keighley side 16-0 up before Batley hit back with their first try of the game.

Hooker Darren Robinson forced his way over from close range and added his second before the game was held up by Mitchell's injury.

Hooker Eric Johnson, a find from Oldham amateur club, St Annes, also looked more than a little impressive with a blistering turn of speed an intelligent distribution.

Batley had suffered a defeat in their opening friendly of the season against Dewsbury and were determined to get a win under their belts. Where Roe had 27 players on parade the Bulldogs stuck to 19 tried and tested performers and as Keighley's regular substitutions go underway they were unable to maintain the direction that had brought early results.

Neil Roden opened the second half with a converted try that gave Batley the lead for the first time in the game, but for long periods the home side dominated possession. The long-silent 'Cougar Roar' was even brought to life by the crown of over 900 enjoying a thrilling encounter.

John Gallagher powered over to the right of the posts to edge Batley further ahead with Michael Kyte stretching their advantage to 26-16 before Johnson capped his impressive performance with great individual try.

He broke away from the base of the scrum and side-stepped the Batley full back to get his touch down with Richard Knight adding the kick that put Cougars back in touch at 22-26 and set up a thrilling final few moments.

"I was delighted with the performance, we have been looking for good players from the amateur ranks and they mostly stepped up to the mark and performed well at the professional level," Roe said.

There was also the promise of more to come and the real prospect of a team able to compete for a play-off place.