Keighley Cougars 24 Rochdale Hornets 6: Perfect start for coach Demetriou

Gavin Duffy touched down twice, while James Hutchinson, Will Cartledge and Brendon Rawlins also scored to leave Demetriou delighted.

“I’m pleased with the performance,” he said. “We’ve got to be disciplined enough to stick to the gameplan. We did for large parts of the game. It got away from us 10 minutes either side of half-time but we got it back.”

Keighley’s kicking game was key early on, Hutchinson scoring from Paul Drake’s chip to the corner before Duffy touched down Demetriou’s grubber.

Cartledge added a third when Duffy collected Ryan Smith’s crossfield kick and provided the decisive inside ball.

Hornets hit back through Wayne English, Paul Crook converting, but Danny Lawton then kicked a penalty for the hosts.

Brendon Rawlins powered over the line from close range and Duffy claimed a late second, cutting a neat angled line through the right-edge defence.

Keighley: Moss, Duffy, Haythornthwaite, Lawton, Hutchinson, Drake, Smith, Law, Feather, Shickell, Cartledge, Pursglove, Demetriou. Substitutes: Wray, Barr, Baines, Rawlins.

Rochdale: Yates, Bloomfield, Gorton, Reid, English, McGovern, Crook, Newton, Hough, Cookson, Ashall, Strong, Donoghue. Substitutes: Powell, Clough, Samuels, Bowman.

Referee: P Bentham (Warrington).