Cougars prepare for acid test (From Keighley News)

Cougars prepare for acid test

9:30am Thursday 4th February 2010

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Cougars chief Barry Eaton believes Sunday’s clash with Whitehaven will act as an important yardstick for the coming campaign.

Eaton’s side opened their season with a dramatic 24-22 win against Blackpool Panthers in the North-ern Rail Cup last week.

Some harsh lessons were learned from the narrow escape but the visit of Championship rivals Whitehaven will provide a real indicator of how far Cougars have come since promotion last year.

The Cumbrians have been a top-five side in England’s second tier throughout the past six years and victory would provide Keighley with a real boost for both league and cup campaigns.

“It will give us a better indication of where we’re at,” said Eaton.

“We’re really looking forward to it because it will be a tough test against a consistent top four/top five Championship team.

“They know what the Champion-ship is about and are a really formidable outfit.

“We’re at home so it’ll give our fans an idea of what to expect and we’re excited. We’ve not been able to test ourselves against anyone of this calibre so far.”

Cougars have yet to receive confirmation of the penalty they will face in the new Championship season, knowing a deduction of up to nine points awaits following their entry into administration.

But all eyes are currently on the Northern Rail Cup after victory at Blackpool gave them a fighting chance of reaching the knock-out stages.

It is essential Cougars win back-to-back home games against Whitehaven and Workington but Eaton knows improvements must be made following their last-gasp triumph against Panthers.

He said: “We’ve had a full review of the game and there’s some areas where we let ourselves down.

“Their kicking game caused us problems and we committed a couple of errors from kicks that led to tries.

“We felt, as a team, we didn’t apply enough pressure to the kicker and that’s something we’ve worked on.

“There were also times when our defence didn’t work as a unit and that’s possibly because of the new players coming in and the lack of field time we’ve had this winter.

“But some of the tries we scored were outstanding and were the direct result of work we had done on where we could catch Blackpool out.

“We’re not too concerned. We hope we can put the little things right and it will all start to come together.”

Cougars came through their opening game relatively unscathed, although Will Cartledge was unable to train on Tuesday night due to a sprained ankle and will be assessed later this week.

Daley Williams should be fit to face Whitehaven despite a neck strain and new boy Richard Jones could be available for selection.

Ben Sagar is still struggling with an elbow injury and Chris Baines may not be risked despite recovering from an abductor strain. Eaton is keen not to rush his winter capture into action ahead of time and risk further injury.

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