Keighley Cougars...66

Swinton Lions...12 THE Lions ended their season on the saddest of notes, with a real hiding at the hands of the rampant Cougars.

There was nothing but pride at stake for the Swinton players -- and after this performance many of them will be sweating on their futures at Gigg Lane.

A fifth minute try by Richard Henare, courtesy of a break and pass by Paul Smith, saw Ian Watson converting to give Swinton a 6-0 lead.

Henare went close again just two minutes later when he followed Watson's kick, but, unfortunately, the ball evaded him.

Keighley had opened the game in slipshod manner and when Ian Hughes broke with a four-man overlap, he chose to hang on to the ball and was forced to knock-on after a double tackle by Smith and Wayne English.

After 15 minutes the Cougars showed their claws, Danny Seal scooting over for a try after Martin Wood had set him up with a 40-20 kick. Wood's conversion levelled things and the Cougars went ahead when Jason Ramshaw crashed over on the sixth tackle with Wood again converting.

The injury curse which blighted the Lions' season struck once more after half an hour when Jon Neill was stretchered off the field with rib and neck injuries.

Keighley extended their lead soon after when Karl Smith slipped a pass out to Nathan Antonik for the touchdown.

As the half-time hooter was about to sound, Jason Lee scored his side's fourth try to leave the Lions 20-6 in arrears at the break.

Three tries for the Cougars in the opening 11 minutes of the second half extended the home side's lead to 38-6. Seal completed his hat-trick either side of an Ian Hughes touchdown, with Wood converting all three.

The Lions scored what turned out to be a consolation try from a short kick-off when Watson's pass got Smith over. The conversion goal by Watson proved to be the last points the Swinton side scored this season.

More slack tackling saw Graeme Hallas touchdown in the corner before Karl Smith had a try disallowed for a forward pass.

The same thing happened when Lee had another touchdown wiped out, but Keighley carried on to score four tries in 12 minutes.

With 15 minutes to go, Ramshaw scored under the posts after the Lions had conceded successive penalties near their own line. Substitute Steve Pickles then scored what is probably the quickest hat-trick on record as he touched down three times in eight minutes.

Wood converted all four tries to bring up the final scoreline and bring the curtain down on a most disappointing season for the Lions and their supporters.

SWINTON LIONS: English; Henare, Coussons, Nanyn, Billy; Craig, Watson; Neill, Furey, Pickavance, Smith, Cushion, Casey. Substitutes: Loughlin, T Barrow, P Barrow, Roach. Referee: Mr S Nicholson (Whitehaven). Attendance: 1,665.