Blast from the Past: Keighley’s 2011 Grand Final

Keighley Cougars have set their sights on making ambitious progress over the next five years.

And if they achieve their goals, it will be a promotion-winning season in 2011 that started the ball rolling.

Under then-coach Jason Demetriou, Keighley finished second in Championship One that season, with 13 wins from 20 league fixtures.

They were four points behind table-toppers Swinton, but the Cougars came good in the play-offs.

At first they looked as though they may have run out of momentum, losing their opening play-off fixture 19-10 in a home match against Workington.

But they rallied the following week, beating Rochdale 38-23 to set up a Grand Final showdown with Workington.

Town had plenty of confidence, having only beaten Keighley two weeks before, but Demetriou’s men showed determination and plenty of early enthusiasm as they blasted into a 22-0 half time lead.

The Cougars eventually won 32-12, with Demetriou named man of the match after producing a dominant display at stand-off.

Danny Lawton, James Feather, Brendon Rawlins and Olly Pursglove all crossed in that first half as the Cougars simply blew Workington away.

It took Workington 65 minutes to finally breach Keighley’s line, with Scott Kaighan’s try coming too late to prevent the Cougars’ promotion into rugby league’s second tier.

Strong-running centre Jake Normington scored twice in the final 11 minutes to put the finishing touches on a fine win for the Cougars.

Demetriou said: “This is just as special as anything I did in Super League.

“I knew what it meant for everyone here at Keighley and I’m so proud of the players. They were awesome.”

Demetriou was one of three Keighley players to be named in the competition’s team of the year, with centre and wing partnership Ben Sagar and Gavin Duffy also earning recognition.

Still at Cougar Park from that triumph are Lawton, Sagar, Duffy, Feather, Rawlins, Pursglove, Scott Law and Andy Shickell.