Cougars 10, Batley Bulldogs 22

Cougars player-coach Jason Demetriou urged his players to learn from their mistakes after defensive flaws allowed Co-op Championship rivals Batley to emerge victorious.

In a rearranged encounter with John Kear’s side – originally scheduled for last Sunday but postponed due to a frozen pitch – Keighley were outscored by four tries to two.

Their next test is the high-profile visit of Bradford next Friday and Demetriou said: “We played well in parts but we have to improve.

“It’s important that we learn from our mistakes and hit the ground running in our first couple of games of the season.”

Batley, who visit Cougar Park for their opening Northern Rail Cup fixture next month, established a 10-0 lead with tries from Alex Bretherton and Danny Mills.

Bretherton raced on to a grubber kick to touch down and Mills then finished off a fine 55-metre burst to go over in the corner and put Batley in control.

The visitors also had a try disallowed before Demetriou’s men woke up and fashioned an impressive response.

They hit back with an unconverted try from James Haythornthwaite to cut Batley’s lead to six points before the break.

After the restart, the Cougars claimed another score from winger Gavin Duffy which scrum half Danny Jones converted to level the scores at 10-10.

But Batley hit the hosts with another try when Jason Walton went over and Lewis Palfrey converted to put the visitors 16-10 ahead.

The Cougars could not respond this time and Kris Lythe added a fourth try for Batley and Palfrey again kicked the extras to leave Demetriou with food for thought.

He said: “We’re really looking forward to the Bulls game now. We know we have to improve but we will put out a strong side.”