A hat-trick from Elliott Miller was the highlight as Workington Town came together in the second half to overpower Keighley Cougars.

After a shaky start, Town got a crucial try just before the break to put them ahead and they weathered the Keighley storm at the start of the second period before surging into a comfortable 34-12 lead.

It wasn't the best of shows from the Town side but it is two more points in the bag as the season nears the crucial stages.

There was some bright sparks from half-backs Carl Forber and Jamie Doran, although the latter spent 10 minutes cooling his heels in the sin bin after arguing with the referee.

But, on the whole, coach Leon Pryce was underwhelmed with the performance and admitted there was still plenty to work on ahead of next week's visit of Coventry Bears.

Town started the game 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.

A catalogue of errors from the Town side allowed Keighley right back in after the break.

A dangerous ball was put over the Town line, Joe Hambley tried to palm it away but not far enough and then Forrester missed with the boot, allowing Aaron Levy an easy touchdown, to which Hardcastle added the extras.

Town then struck back with two tries in four minutes to pick the pace back up.

First Tyllar Mellor showed great footwork to stay in touch as he dived over by the corner flag but Forber was just off target with the goal.

Then, Elliott Miller showed a great turn of pace to get on to the end of a Forber boot downfield and he collected the ball as he crashed over the line, this time Forber on target to move the score out to 20-12.

He got nearly a carbon copy just 10 minutes later as Forber put a kick towards the corner and Miller again outpaced the defence to get there first and touch down.

Keighley tried to force their way back into the game but Town new boy Mellor showed he can also step up in defence as he bundled Dixon into touch as he tried to get over the whitewash.

But the day belonged to Miller as he collected his hat-trick, this time from a Forber pass, with another score out wide to cap a fine performance.

Then, with the clock ticking down, Fuifui MoiMoi made a great break before being felled near the 40-metre line. But Town kept going and Jamie Doran powered over the whitewash with Forber tagging on a conversion from out wide for a final score of 34-12.