Kingstone Press League One: Keighley Cougars 45 London Skolars 26

London Skolars saw another half-time lead slip away as they fell to 45-26 defeat at Keighley Cougars in Kingstone Press League One.

The home side had gone into the lead early on when Davey Dixon ran onto a cross-field kick from Harry Aaronson.

Cougars moved further ahead through Matt Bailey three minutes later, though the conversion from in front of the posts hit the crossbar.

Skolars looked to have put Keighley under pressure when Aaronson picked up the ball on his own 20 metre line, but he ran across the field from right to left, before finding a gap to race to the tryline.

A 40-metre penalty kick by Jy-Mel Coleman gave London good field position to attack from and some quick passing saw Dave Williams touchdown on the left flank.

Then, after Louis Robinson was held up over the tryline, Billy Driver shot over from dummy half.

Six minutes later, Driver scored again and Skolars took an 18-14 lead at half-time.

The visitors were put under pressure straight after the interval, conceding a goal-line drop out.

After a period defending, the lead went when Michael Emmett scored for the home team.

Aaronson cut through the defence to set up Dixon’s second try and, when Andy Gabriel broke through for Matty Beharrell to score, Skolars were 14 points behind again.

This time there was no way back and a series of missed tackles allowed James Feather to extend the Keighley lead.

A try for Lamont Bryan stemmed the flow, but, after a drop goal by Beharrell, a dropped ball by Skolars at a scrum close to their own line saw Brad Nicholson score Keighley’s eighth try.

As the hooter sounded, Skolars scored a consolation try with Kam Pearce-Paul sprinting to touchdown a Mike Bishay kick into the in-goal area.

However, it still could not hide the disappointment at another failure by London to turn a half-time lead into a victory.

Next up for Skolars is a tough home clash against Barrow Raiders, who are currently in third, on Saturday.