Bears give spirited Cup performance
Cougar Park Keighley
Keighley Cougars 54 Coventry Bears 28
Ladbrokes Challenge Cup 3rd round match
3pm kick off Cougar Park
#inthistogether
The Bears travelled to Keighley Cougars and gave their hosts a shock in the first half scorching to a good lead which they held onto until the Cougars pack started to take control and dominate in the second half. There were some good positives for the Bears as a number of players stepped up to the challenge and gave spirited performances against a side that will be pushing for promotion in League One this season.
Scoring was opened when Bears James Redman put Jono Milizewski through behind the ruck and the Bears followed up to score through prop Tommy Holland. Joel James kicked the goal and the Bears were off the mark. Cougars 0 Bears 6.
The Bears were on fire and scored twice more in quick succession through Charlie O'mara. The first was another Milizewski break followed up by Barratt who played the ball quickly for Redman to kick through and O'mara to pounce on the ball wide on the right. The next try came from some sustainable pressure by the Bears and the young halfback O'mara danced his way over and dived under the sticks for a great individual score. This brought the score to Cougars 0 Bears 18 with 23 mins gone in the first half.
5 minutes later Cougars hit back as Hawkyard swept around the back and ran in to score to get the Cougars on the scoreboard. 4-18. After another 6 minutes the Cougars scored again on the right through their centre Martin and it was 10-18.
Some sustained pressure from the Cougars in the middle and they managed to get over again just before halftime as the Bears looked to tire a little. HT Cougars 16 Bears 18.
The second half started with Cougars coming out strong, the Bears defeneded well but 7 minutes in the deadlock was broken and the Cougars scored through Barnes. 20-18.
The Cougars pack started to dominate and for the next 20 minutes it was one way traffic as two trys in quick sucession from Oakes and Ollett do real damage with both trys converted by Brook it was Cougars 32 Bears 18.
4 more from Gabriel, White and two from Martin put the game to bed for the Cougars but the Bears finished strong with trys from Jay Lobwein and Jono Milizewski to give the Coventry side confidence that they can score points against the very best in the division.
Cougars Paul March said that the Bears deserved their points but will expect his side to perform better to their standards over the 80 minutes.
Tom Tsang from the Bears was pleased with how the Bears scored and went about their business early in the game but expected better in defence in the second half as again discipline and concentration was lacking when it was needed the most.
Full Tom Tsang reaction to follow this week.
Try scoring sequence:
0-6 - Holland TRY - James GOAL
0-12 - O'Mara TRY - James GOAL
0-18 - O'Mara TRY - James GOAL
4-18 - R Hawkyard TRY - Brook NO GOAL
10-18 - Barnes TRY - Brook GOAL
16-18 - Barnes TRY - Brook GOAL
20-18 - Barnes TRY - Brook GOAL
26-18 - Oakes TRY - Brook GOAL
32-18 - Ollett TRY - Brook GOAL
38-18 - Gabriel TRY - Brook GOAL
44-18 - White TRY - Brook GOAL
48-18 - Martin TRY - Brook NO GOAL
54-18 - Martin TRY - Brook GOAL
54-22 - Lowbein TRY - James NO GOAL
54-28 - Milizewski TRY - James GOAL
Referee: J Roberts
Touch Judges: G Melling & H Neville
4th official D McNeice
Commissioner: N Robinson
Teams :
KEIGHLEY COUGARS
22 Ritchie Hawkyard
2 Andy Gabriel
23 Charlie Martin
29 Hamish Barnes
5 Paul White
14 Adam Brook
7 Paul Handforth
8 Scott Law
9 James Feather
12 Brendon Rawlins
17 John Oakes
25 Darren Hawkyard
13 Ash Lindsay
Subs (All Used)
15 Neil Cherryholme
19 Matthew Bailey
20 Aaron Ollett
35 Ross Peltier
COVENTRY BEARS
1 Joel James
2 Ben Warrilow
3 Brett Barlow
4 Matt Reid
5 Hayden Freeman
6 Charlie O’Mara
7 Jay Lobwein
8 Tommy Holland
9 James Redman
10 Elliot Liku
11 Elliott Holton
17 Chris Barratt (Captain)
13 Jono Milizewski
Subs (All Used)
14 Elliot Norman
18 Alex Beddows
19 Trae O’Sullivan
20 Jack Morrison
Bears man of the match was Prop Tommy Holland.
Cougar's man of the match was Winger Hamish Barnes.
Next week the Bears travel to Toulouse Olympique in the League One season opener. Preview to follow this week.