Championship round-up

 Keighley overcame Batley 10-8 in a close game at Mount Pleasant.

The Cougars became the first side to beat John Kear’s team after five successive victories.

And Batley looked like they were comfortably going to make it six after a fantastic try from Gareth Moore.

Ben Black’s kick from acting half back was perfectly timed for Moore to jump up, catch the ball mid-air and ground it safely under the posts.

Keighley played up the slope in the first half, and went into half time full of confidence after equalising the game through a Jy-Mel Coleman try.

After Andy Shickell was held up over the Bulldogs’ try line, Keighley quickly restarted play and Coleman was able to race away and score in the corner.  

The game remained tight going into the final 20 mins when Moore converted a penalty on the hour.

But Keighley were the dominant side in the second half and were rewarded with a James Haythornthwaite try with 11 minutes to go.

Ian Preece was blinded by the sun before the ball bounced off him into touch. The cougars were awarded a 20m scrum from which they stretched the Batley defence giving Haythornthwaite the chance to win the game for Keighley.

A dominant first half performance from Dewsbury was too much for Swinton to overcome as they lost 34-16.

Dewsbury got the first try as early as the seventh minute from Steve Crossley, before Craig Cook doubled the Rams’ lead within three minutes.

Adam Higson and Martin Ainscough levelled the scores for the Lions, but two quick fire tries from the Rams just before half time took the game beyond reach.

Ayden Faal scored with five minutes of the half remaining before George Flanagan crossed with a minute remaining.

The second half was much more even with both teams scoring a try apiece. 

Alex Hurst thought he had pulled the Lions back into the match within bonus point range, but Matt Nicholson denied Swinton a point with a try late in the match.

Hunslet’s attempted comeback was denied by a strong Sheffield side who won 40-22 at the South Leeds Stadium.

Mark Aston’s side let a 36-0 lead away from their grasp before half time.

Nev Morrison scored twice inside the first quarter of an hour before Quentin Laulu-Togagae and Liam Higgins all added tries to put the Eagles 24-0 up inside the first 20 minutes.

Menzie Yere and Andrew Henderson both added tries before Hunslet could reply late in the first half with a Gareth Davies effort.

The Hawks scored just after the restart through Josh Nathaniel but Sheffield held off the Hawks’ fight back.

Danny Allan and Davies scored within five minutes of each other just after the hour mark, but Henderson scored his second with less than five minutes remaining to seal the match.

Sean Penkywicz’s last minute try denied York City Knights draw at the Huntington Stadium as Halifax won 24-18.

Ben Heaton stunned the hosts with two tries inside a four minute period after the 11th minute. 

Chris Green and Jack Lee equalised just before half time, but Dane Manning scored a quick try for Halifax just before the half time hooter.

 The game remained tight until Alex Benson equalised again for the home side, and with seven minutes remaining it looked like the game would end with honours even.

But Penkywicz was able to spot a gap in the York defence with Halifax having all the momentum un the final moments.

Andy Kain and Liam Finn inspired Featherstone to a comfortable 36-16 win over Leigh.

Greg Worthington scored after a quarter of an hour before Ian Hardman doubled the home side’s point tally.

Things got from bad to worse for the Centurions as Andy Bostock and Andy Kain both scored to stretch Featherstone’s unanswered points to 24.

Matt Gardner touched down just before half time for Leigh, but the visitors needed to score first after the restart and they failed to do just that.

Kain crossed the line for Rovers early in the second half but the teams began to trade tries when Tom Spencer scored for Leigh shortly after.

However Tangi Roparti sealed the game for Featherstone just before the hour mark, and despite a consolation try from Matt Russell, Featherstone kept the spoils on Thursday night.