GATESHEAD Thunder’s season of woe showed no sign of improvement yesterday, as they were hammered at Keighley Cougars.

Still without a league win in 14 attempts this year, Co-operative Championship One’s basement dwellers remain firmly rooted to the bottom of the table after another brutal lesson.

Small mercy could only be taken by the fact second-placed Keighley failed to rack up a century of points, but nonetheless the Gateshead try-line was breached on 18 separate occasions.

Chris Baines led the charge with two touchdowns and nine conversions, but there were no shortage of scorers as Keighley ran riot on the famous Cougar Park slope.

Jy-Mel Coleman, Ryan Smith and George Elliott both crossed for two apiece, with player-coach Jason Demetriou also among the Yorkshire side’s scorers.

Further tries were added from Jake Normington, Scott Law, Ben Sagar, James Feather, Craig Moss and Andrew Shickell, with Ryan Clarke offering Gateshead’s sole resistance in converting his try.

Far from offering any improvement on a season in which they had conceded an average of 58 points per game, yesterday’s result was the first time since August they had shipped more than 90 in a single afternoon.

Director of rugby Chris Hood, doubling up as caretaker coach after Richard Pell’s departure, has the task of galvanising Thunder for this weekend’s home date with Doncaster, as the prospect of a full league season without a win becomes an increasingly likely prospect.

The club’s enthusiasm remains their most admirable quality in such a relative rugby league outpost, and the 13-man code remains better for the presence of Thunder in the third national tier.

But with scores like yesterday’s mounting, and signs of progress still to rear their head, these are tough times for the sport’s North East standard bearers.