SHEFFIELD COMFORTABLE OVER COUGARS
09/09/2023
Sheffield Eagles returned to winning ways on Friday with a comfortable win over Keighley Cougars.
Young forward Joe Hird came into the Eagles side along with Izaac Farrell who featured from the bench, Anthony Thackeray returned to action after missing out on last week’s loss against London.
The visitors started the scoring following a penalty, which brought them downfield, Lewis Young fooled the Eagles defence with a shimmy to touch down on the right edge. Harvey Spence converted the score.
Keighley were the strongest side for the opening period of the game, but wouldn’t score another point until the final minute of the game.
Sheffield weathered the storm for the next 15 minutes before hitting back with a score courtesy of their half-back partnership.
Just before the 20-minute mark, Cory Aston benefited from a clever grubber kick from Anthony Thackeray. The veterans’ kick ricocheted off the post and into the hands of Aston who grabbed the Guls’ first points of the contest. Cory converted to level the scores.
Five minutes later, the Eagles went in front; in-form centre Ross Oakes went over from close range, before Aston converted for 12-6.
Sheffield scored once more before the break to extend their lead to 10 poInts. Moments before the half-time hooter sounded QLT’s quick-thinking tap-on pass found James Glover, the centre waltzed in for the third Eagles effort of the evening.
HALF-TIME: SHEFFIELD EAGLES 16-6 KEIGHLEY COUGARS
The hosts started well after the interval and earned back-to-back goal-line drop-outs before Jesse Sene-Lefao bundled over from close range for a try.
A cute kick from Thackeray created the next Sheffield score five minutes later, as winger Ben Jones-Bishop climbed high to score.
The Eagles next points came through Aaron Murphy who scored from close range. This was soon followed by the hot-stepping Quentin Laulu-Togaga’e, who rolled back the years with a sumptuous score against his former club.
Keighley’s bleach blonde-haired full-back, Young went in for the final score of the night, completing a double with a similar try to his first. Oscar Thomas took over the kicking duties and put his effort wide.
FULL-TIME: SHEFFIELD EAGLES 38-10 KEIGHLEY COUGARS