KEIGHLEY Cougars head coach Matt Foster praised his side for their “desire and will” in their battling 26-18 derby defeat to Bradford Bulls in the AB Sundeck 1895 Cup on Sunday.
That result saw the Betfred League 1 side knocked out of the competition in the group stage, with Bulls advancing to the quarter finals instead, but the underdogs gave their Championship neighbours plenty to think about.
Foster also knows the punishing spell which saw Keighley concede four tries in an eight-minute spell either side of half-time was in part down to playing a top second-tier side, and how teams at that level have that extra quality to ruthlessly punish any drop off.
Either way, the performance largely bodes well for Cougars’ Challenge Cup fourth round home tie against another Championship heavyweight, Featherstone Rovers, this Sunday.
Reflecting on his first experience of the Keighley versus Bradford derby as a head coach, Foster said: “The group has got that desire and will within them, so I never worried that it would be a blow out after Bulls scored those four tries in quick succession.
“The reason for that spell was that we just lacked a bit of attention to detail in that period and they got some good rolls on with the big bodies they have in their side.
“I’d kind of agree with the theory that better teams than we’d face week in, week out in League 1 will punish that lack of attention to detail more severely.
“But we have to take responsibility for our own performance because if you don’t perform in the way you want, you’ll get punished by any opponent.
“There are different levels of rugby league of course, and you are going to get bigger, stronger, faster and smarter players the further up the divisions you go.”
The performance in the last half-hour on Sunday in particular, which saw Cougars outscore Bulls 12-0, gave Foster great confidence heading into the clash with Featherstone this weekend.
He said: “I mentioned that desire and will we showed after going 26-6 down, but it was also the way we went set for set after that.
“The game became a grind for 15 minutes and we arm-wrestled our way back into things.
“With that persistence, we forced a penalty and error out of Bulls, and that’s when we started scoring.
“I was really pleased with the way we played late on, coming back into the grind, and I thought (forward) Dan Parker really helped with that when he came back on.”
Cougars will be huge underdogs for the Featherstone clash this weekend, but Foster said: “What we do doesn’t change, no matter the opposition.
“They’re a side that’s been at the very top end of the Championship for the last few years, so it will be tough.
“But we’ll look at their team, work out how we can tweak our gameplan to adapt to that, and use it to aid our own performance.”
Squad-wise, long-term injury absentees Alex Bishop and Liam Copland are likely to be held back until the start of the League 1 season next month.
New signing Nathan Conroy, the half back returning to Cougars for a second spell, is also being got up to speed in time for that season opener against Cornwall, while veteran hooker Kyle Kesik is a doubt to face Featherstone after suffering a calf issue against Bulls.
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