COUGARS chairman Gary Fawcett has hailed the club’s outstanding run of form but warned: It's still early days.

The Keighley chief believes the current squad is their best for well over a decade and, since being knocked out of the Challenge Cup by York City Knights on March 20, Paul March’s men have embarked on a highly impressive seven-match winning streak.

That sequence has put them second in League One ahead of Saturday's trip to London Skolars but Fawcett is not getting carried away, insisting there are much tougher tests ahead.

He said: “It's still early days. We are not halfway through the season and, one thing is for sure, the teams we are going to face are going to get harder, not easier.

“The way the league is structured means that the season becomes progressively harder.

“Therefore, we must not rest on our laurels and ensure that we learn as we go through the season.

“In particular, we must improve our try conversion percentage.”

Indeed, Cougars converted only seven of their 15 tries in their 74-6 demolition at home to Hemel Stags last Sunday and for Fawcett that was a concern.

He added: “I said to Paul March that the Hemel game was ‘a good job well done’ but we must sort the goalkicking out because, later on in the season, it’s going to bite us on the backside.

“Essentially we missed out on 16 points on Sunday due to the goal kicking.

“However, two points could be critical in the final few games and, having lost by one point against Swinton in the play-off final last year, that was heartbreaking as everyone at the club knows. I don't want history repeating itself.”

Encouragingly, Fawcett believes his side - who have also reached the final of the iPro Sport Cup, where they will face York in a revenge mission at the Summer Bash in Blackpool on Saturday week -

showed a marked improvement on recent performances against Stags.

Hemel had given Hunslet a run for their money a week earlier at the South Leeds Stadium but Keighley ran in 15 tries against them with ruthless efficiency.

Fawcett said: “Sunday’s victory against Hemel Stags finally proved what I suspected our team was capable of.

“Hemel Stags acquitted themselves very well against Hunslet and must have come into the game expecting to leave with a respectable scoreline.

“However, our team had different ideas and really took the game to Hemel from the first minute.

“We scored in the fourth minute and, despite letting in a soft try, we never looked back.

“I believe this is the best squad we have recruited over the past 15 years or so.”

Meanwhile, Cougars centre Hamish Barnes is facing a spell on the sidelines after he dislocated his shoulder against Hemel.

Jode Sheriffe is having his screws taken out of his ankle tomorrow and Danny Lawton is currently out of action after he hyper-extended his elbow.