Workington Town hold a slender 10-6 lead over visitors Keighley Cougars at half time in this League One encounter.

But it hasn't been plain sailing for either side, with Town ending the half with 12-men.

Town started brightly as a neat little move involving new boy Tylar Mellor nearly paid dividends. But Jake Moore just couldn't get to the final looping pass by the line.

Keighley had been forced into an early substitution when Harvey Hallas went down injured and had to be replaced by Aaron Levy.

And they came up with the first points when Benn Hardcastle slotted over a penalty.

But then Town struck back as Oliver Wilkes broke through the defensive line and released Carl Forber. He raced forward and then put a neat pass inside to the supporting Sam Forrester who crossed the whitewash.

The conversion went wide of the post but Town nearly widened the gap when Tom Curwen got himself over the line but a scrambling Cougar defence just held him up on the last tackle.

Town had to withstand a couple of close encounters on their own try line to defend the slender lead - but it didn't last long.

A series of penalty decisions handed the visitors the advantage and when he was in kicking range, the boot of Hardcastle slotted over two more.

And he attempted a third from the halfway line but this time Hardcastle's effort just bounced back off the uprights, much to the relief of Workington.

Tempers began to fray and when Jamie Doran looked to question a decision from referee Michael Mannifield he was sent to cool his heels in the sin bin.

Despite being a man down, Workington looked to take the fight to their opponents and surged forward.

Sean Penkywicz took the ball to the try line and tried to pop up the pass to Kurt Maudling but he couldn't hang on to the ball and the chance went begging

Keighley came right back, trying to use the overlap but David Dixon just went into touch as he looked to score in the corner.

With three minutes remaining Sean Penkywicz scooted over from dummy-half and Forber added the extras from in front of the posts to take the lead at a crucial time.