Late Atkin penalty knocks Keighley Cougars out of cup

FOR the second consecutive weekend, Keighley Cougars were knocked out of a cup competition after falling short against Swinton in the iPro Sport Cup quarter-final.

Despite taking the lead through a Rikki Sheriffe effort after 11 minutes, Keighley never looked like taking control of the game before half-time.

Ben White proved to be the difference as his grubber underneath the posts saw Grant Beecham win the foot race against Jesse Sheriffe to touch down.

White grabbed the next try between the uprights himself after racing 40 metres unchallenged following a line break by Aaron Lloyd, who had only been on the pitch a matter of seconds.

Swinton went two converted tries clear early in the second half, with Chris Atkin racing over down the defensive right side after a mix-up saw Josh Lynam tackle the returning Gavin Duffy in an attempt to stop the Lions full back.

Cougars got the next score after 11 minutes camped on the Swinton line finally bore fruit when Scott Law saw off the challenge of three tacklers to squeeze over.

But a growing weakness was exploited as Andy Ackers dragged Paul White inside of his wing before passing out to Stuart Littler, who dived over to put daylight between the two sides.

Keighley then staged a comeback to level the scores with two tries in the space of four minutes. A Paul Handforth break set the scene for a dramatic last tackle play, which saw Paul March and Danny Jones both avoid tackles to send Brendon Rawlins over to score.

Rawlins himself made a break of his own, offloading to Jesse Sheriffe, who then raced over.

However, a Handforth high tackle with 90 seconds remaining allowed Atkin to secure victory with the boot.

iPro Sport Cup semi-final draw: Swinton Lions v Newcastle Thunder, Oldham v North Wales Crusaders.