Distington bowed out of the Challenge Cup but can be proud of their efforts against a Keighley side that at times were left rocking.

Distington put in a proud and dogged performance against their semi-professional opponents and at times had Keighley on the ropes but didn’t take their chances to seal a famous victory.

After a ferocious start that saw a number of big hits in the difficult conditions, Carl Hewer’s side put the first points of the day on the board when Clayton Sutton took the two points on offer after the touch judge ruled interference in the tackle.

Gavin Martin then thought he had extended the Distington lead when he slid over the line from close range but the centre knocked on at the crucial moment.

Clayton Sutton had an opportunity to score the afternoon’s first try but a combination of the greasy ball and the post protector denied him the four pointer.

Things had threatened to boil over on a number of occasions throughout the game but things really came to ahead on the half-hour mark after a late hit in the tackle led to all 26 men getting involved in a brawl.

Following discussions with his touch judges, referee Stephen Race made the decision to send both Distington captain Scott George and James Feather for ten minutes to cool off.

The first try of the afternoon soon followed and it would be Keighley who scored as Matt Welham raced through a gap in the defensive line to put the try on a plate for the supporting Jack Coventry.

The gap between the sides at the interval though would only be two points after Clayton Sutton converted a penalty on the sound of the half-time hooter after the home side were penalised for a ball steal.

Distington could sense a giant-killing early in the second half when Phil Lister beat Davey Dixon in the air from a George cross-field kick to score in the corner.

Keighley would retake the lead though shortly after falling behind when Benn Hardcastle but a chip over the top that Harvey Hallas latched onto to race through for the score.

The fitness levels then began to kick in and it showed as a tiring Distington defence struggled to cope with the Cougars as they came down the Cougar Park slope and as a result they conceded three tries in the space of six second-half minutes.

The first saw clever play from Cougars half-back Jack Miller who linked up with Macauley Hallett to create the space on the overlap from which Alfie Seeley breezed home in the corner.

Jason Muranka then extended the home sides lead further as he sold a superb dummy pass to free up the room for him to race to the line despite the interests of Steven Conway.

Seeley then sealed his brace with a dive home in the corner after great work by Hallett to draw Greg Bedford inside of his wing.

But Distington wouldn’t go down without a fight and scored once again when Liam McNicholas raced out the line and intercepted a looping Hardcastle pass to go the length off the field to score beneath the sticks.

The comeback ended though three minutes from time when Shaun Adams had his afternoon ended when he was sent to the sin-bin for dissent after exchanging one word too many with the official.

Then on the sound of the hooter, Davey Dixon sealed the victory for the home side as he raced in at the corner after great work by Welham from the scrum.