KEIGHLEY Cougars' social media campaign has this week featured the Pack the Park hashtag and Craig Lingard has urged Keighley to come out in force for their first home game of the season.

The head coach has called on Cougar Park to be jam packed to mark the dawn of Cougarmania Mark II when they host Coventry Bears in the Betfred League One on Sunday (ko 3pm).

Cougars are refreshed after enjoying a blank weekend following their opening-day 28-16 defeat at Whitehaven two weeks ago.

Lingard said: "For our first competitive home game since the takeover, it would be fantastic to get a crowd of 1,000 plus people down there.

"Coventry are not one of the most well-supported teams, so it would be a real achievement to have 90-95 per cent of the crowd to be Cougars fans.

"If our following of 250-300 people at Whitehaven is anything to go by, and on social media people said they could not make that trip, there might be a lot more coming to Sunday's game.

"For the people who have stayed away due to the last regime and the one before, there is no excuse for them to stay away now. We have people in charge now who were there during the heady days of Cougarmania. It's time for those fans to put their money where their mouth is.

"I would like to think it would be business as usual for me and the players this Sunday. We have got to take as much emotion out of it as we can and remain professional.

"We are playing a Coventry team who come to us after a big victory last weekend and are unbeaten in their first two games, while we have not won yet."

Lingard added building up team spirit among his new-look squad has been paramount during the early weeks of the campaign.

Cougars' squad used their blank weekend for team building exercises including a session at Skipton Fire Station and a night out, as they look to gel quickly both on and off the field.

Lingard said: "It's inevitable there will be ring rust but we have to deal with it as best we can. We have to accept that we are behind other teams in terms of number of games played so far and in pre-season.

"We had 11 debutants at Whitehaven, two thirds of the team. There was a lot of new combinations and new players.

"It will take a while for us to gel and find out our best 17 and best combinations.

"I will be making a few changes against Coventry and look at a few other players, to try to get that consistency. It is almost like some of our first few competitive games are like pre-season friendlies, where we have to work out our best team. After our first three games we should know our best team."

But it will be Cougars' Reserves who kick off the new competitive match era at Cougar Park. They host Halifax Reserves tomorrow night (7.30pm).

Cougars have confirmed their ticket prices for home matches this season, starting on Sunday.

Adults aged between 18 and 64 will pay £10 to watch the action at Cougar Park, while concessions, for disabled supporters and those aged 65 or over and 14 to 17, will pay £5.

There will be free admission for juniors aged 13 and under.

Meanwhile, Cougars' League One round 19 fixture against Hunslet at Cougar Park will now be played on Saturday, August 10, with a 6pm kick-off.

Keighley's feel-god factor even extended to announcing a further new signing last week.

In reponses to a national newspaper front page story by TV presenter Caroline Flack with the headline 'I'm Proud to Be a Cougar', the club tweeted: "Don't you just hate it when the press leak your new signings! We're pleased to announce the signing of @carolineflack1! Welcome to Keighley, Caroline! #CDQ"