KEIGHLEY Cougars head coach Craig Lingard has urged caution as his players tackle Coventry Bears in the West Midlands this Saturday, calling the result in the reverse fixture an "anomaly".

His side put in a scintillating performance to maul the Bears 98-6 at Cougar Park in May but Lingard admitted he was surprised by the scoreline.

He said: "Coventry are a really good footballing side and I think that result earlier in the season was an anomaly.

"We played them in Coventry last season and only won by 20 points. They came on really strong at the end and if the game had gone on longer, it could have been even closer.

"They have some good players down there who play for the university side and have represented England and Wales at that level too. Especially with us having a threadbare squad, we'll have to be on the money on Saturday."

That threadbare squad put in a heroic performance last Sunday to topple high-flying Oldham Roughyeds 15-8, and Lingard insisted he had the faith in his side to pull off the surprise result.

He said: "We've got through a lot of that uncertainty of losing players and having people missing through injury and we know we have to work with what we've got.

"The atmosphere through the week was good and I knew that the players on the pitch on Sunday would have a good dig.

"Oldham have won by some big margins this season but when they've lost, it's been in close contests. We knew if we could keep it tight we'd have a chance. We were only one down at the break and the players did the job in the second half."

Lingard was not expecting many changes for the Coventry clash, although the rollercoaster ride with Anthony Bowman continues.

The stand off was set to make his debut against Hemel Stags on July 8, but received an offer to return to Australia. He was refused a visa, though, and Lingard was delighted to welcome him back into the fold.

However, having faced Oldham, he will be absent with injury against Coventry, with Lingard saying: "I thought he was excellent against Oldham but unfortunately he damaged his shoulder.

"He went for a scan though and there's no break, although the Coventry game might come too soon. We'll hopefully have him ready for the following match against Hunslet."

Lingard will hope that the proposed takeover by Austria Holdings will aid his search for player reinforcements, while the head coach and his side prepare for their 'Full Monty' charity night at 7.30pm on Saturday.