March is the right man for Cougars (From Keighley News)

March is the right man for Cougars

12:20pm Thursday 14th March 2013 in Sport

Cougars’ assistant coach Glenn Barraclough has admitted his side are growing increasingly desperate as they bid to kick-start their campaign at the seventh time of asking this weekend.

Paul March’s side host York City Knights on Sunday on the back of a dismal six-match losing streak which has seen them drop to the foot of the Kingstone Press Champion-ship table.

It is a worrying sequence for Cougars, beaten 52-10 at leaders Featherstone a week ago, and Barraclough accepts the pressure is on to stop the rot.

The former Bradford Northern player said: “We’re getting desperate now because it’s six games in and we still haven’t won a game.

“But I don’t think it’s too far away. We’ve got to play York with a bit of confidence and look to get that first win.

“Obviously York will be viewing us a win possibility as well.

“We’re down on confidence but if we can just get some decent possession and im-prove the penalty counts then we’ll give ourselves a good opportunity to play off the back of that.

“But we need to stop hurting ourselves and make sure the opposition have to work for their yards instead of us inviting them down the field.”

Barraclough was referring to the ill discipline which saw Cougars concede a glut of pen-alties during last week’s heavy reverse at Featherstone.

To make matters worse, March was sent off late on for an apparent show of dissent, although he will not be suspended for Sunday’s clash.

It is proving to be a baptism of fire for March at Cougar Park since succeeding Jason Demetriou at the end of last season.

But Barraclough has backed the rookie boss to engineer an upturn in fortunes, adding: “Paul has got a good work ethic and is very competitive on the field.

“I think that’s what people see on the field but he’s actually quite a deep thinker on the game.

“He puts a lot of thought into what he does and he’s just a good all-round guy.

“I’m sure the lads will keep playing for him because he’s a likeable sort of bloke and has certainly got the backing of the team.”

Meanwhile, on-loan Dews-bury centre Elliott Cosgrove should make his home debut this weekend after playing at Featherstone but Charlie Mar-tin could be the only dual-registered Castleford player available.

Tigers duo Johnny Walker and Richard Owen played last Thursday but are expected to be included in Ian Millward’s squad for Sunday’s home game with London Broncos It is proving to be a baptism of fire for March at Cougar Park since succeeding Jason Demetriou at the end of last season.

But Barraclough has backed the rookie boss to engineer an upturn in fortunes, adding: “Paul has got a good work ethic and is very competitive on the field.

“I think that’s what people see on the field but he’s actually quite a deep thinker on the game.

“He puts a lot of thought into what he does and he’s just a good all-round guy.

“I’m sure the lads will keep playing for him because he’s a likeable sort of bloke and has certainly got the backing of the team.”

Meanwhile, on-loan Dews-bury centre Elliott Cosgrove should make his home debut this weekend after playing at Featherstone but Charlie Mar-tin could be the only dual-registered Castleford player available.

Tigers duo Johnny Walker and Richard Owen played last Thursday but are expected to be included in Ian Millward’s squad for Sunday’s home game with London Broncos.

Knights boss Gary Thornton has confirmed he is keen to bring new players into Huntington Stadium, possibly on loan, to get the club through “a tough time” and the busy Easter period.

This was after it was confirmed Matt Nicholson needed surgery to fix the shoulder injury that has blighted his season – even though he played through the pain last weekend, being a stand-out performer in the win over Workington.

Injuries in the squad meant Thorn-ton had been unsure of his line-up until the weekend, made all the more difficult by injuries at partner club Hull restricting the number of available dual-registration players to three in Jack Briscoe, Danny Nicklas and Dean Hadley.

Briscoe departed with a neck injury at half-time last weekend, having scored two of the Knights’ five first-half tries.

Thornton said: “We’ve been hammered with injuries, added to by losing Jason Golden (to a dislocated shoulder) at Sheffield last week. Up to Thursday, we weren’t sure about the 17.

“I still think we need strengthening. We’re not the biggest of squads. We were down to our last 18 fit players, and that included three from Hull. With loan players you know you’re going to get them for four weeks, unlike with this dual-reg on a weekly basis. It would be nice to bring in one or two for a month or so to see us through this period.”

Meanwhile, Cougars have been drawn at Siddal in the third round of the Tetley’s Challenge Cup.

They will hope for some much-needed respite as they seek to avoid an embarrassing exit at the hands of the renowned Halifax amateurs.

All ties to be played on the weekend of April 6-7 with the fourth-round draw scheduled for the week beginning April 8.