MATCH INFORMATION
KEIGHLEY COUGARS v COVENTRY BEARS - BETFRED LEAGUE ONE ROUND THREE
SUNDAY 3RD MARCH - 3PM KICK OFF
COUGAR PARK - KEIGHLEY - BD21 3RF
REFEREE - MR JONATHAN ROBERTS (LEEDS)
ADMISSION:
ADULT - £10 (18-64)
CONCESSIONS - £5 (DISABLED, 65+, STUDENT, 14-17)
JUNIORS - FREE (UNDER 13s)
CRAIG LINGARD WANTS YOU TO #PACKTHEPARK
Head Coach Craig Lingard has made the call to the Keighley Cougars fans to #PackThePark and get a four figure crowd for Sunday's game against the Coventry Bears.
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.
COUGARMANIA INTO THE NEXT GENERATION
Ryan O'Neill hopes to revive the days of Cougarmania but use up-to-date technology as they look to climb rugby league's ladder.
Ryan, who has lived in London for the last 18 years, said: "I have always come back up to Keighley every year.
"We had not been down to the ground since 1997. We did not know what state the ground was in. We were shocked by what we were confronted with, it was derelict.
"At the moment the ground needs so much doing to it. The turnstiles are 100 years old. We need to modernise.
"It's not going to be difficult getting it back to where it was. It's been done before. We know the mistakes we have made in the past.
"The world has moved on. We need to embrace changes in technology and hospitality.
"I was there as a teenager. I lived through it with my dad. I used to be the music man, using cassette tapes and having them lined up for when we scored. I'm not going to be doing that now.
"The past is the past and things have got to be done differently now.
"We have got to reach out to so many people that we have not thought of coming down to a rugby league game. The big thing is getting kids involved. It's totally about reaching out.
"We have go to get people not just from Keighley but from the outlying areas. We want to put Keighley on the map again.
"The consortium are all fantastic people with fantastic ideas. We have a WhatsApp group with the board. Mike Smith is an ideas factory, we all do it together.
"It is 100 per cent full steam ahead. Everyone is of the opinion that we can go into the top six. There's no reason why we can't do that.
"I go to China quite a lot for business but I am hoping to get to every home game and as many away games as I can this season. There is a real buzz and euphoria."
THE COVENTRY ISSUE OF #CDQ
The 2019 Keighley Cougars Matchday Programme, #CDQ, will be on sale at this Sunday's game for a price of £3.
INSIDE THIS WEEK'S ISSUE OF #CDQ
Pull-out poster of Benn Hardcastle
20Q with Jack Miller
10 Things You Didn't Know About with Alex Williams
Player in Focus with Jamie Thackray
Dave Kirkley reflects on the careers and lives of Garfield Owen and Syd Phillips
AND MUCH, MUCH MORE!
TEAM NEWS & 19 MAN SQUADS
Head Coach Craig Lingard will have Captain Benn Hardcastle available to him after the injury that forced him from the field in the defeat at Whitehaven a fortnight ago.
Darren Forde (Back) returns from injury to come into the 19 man squad and is joined in the squad by Billy Gaylor with Luke Million and Reece Williams dropping out of the side from Whitehaven.
Spencer Darley (Ankle), Alex Williams (Hamstring) and Kieran Moran (Knee) are all ruled out through injury.
COUGARS: Arnold; Bailey; Beckett; Cooke; Coventry; Dixon; Feather; Forde; Gaylor; Hallett; Hardcastle; Levy; Lynam; Miller; Muranka; Seeley; Thackray; Welham; Wray.
Coventry boss Tom Tsang welcomes Matthew Davies into his side on dual-registration from the London Broncos.
Davies comes into the squad in place of James Meadows who drops out of the side that stunned the Newcastle Thunder last week at the Butts Park Arena.
Will Tully and Rob Butler also drop out from the side that beat the Thunder seven days ago with Alex Beddows and James Mason.
Nathan Conroy will mark his return to Cougar Park after being named in the Bears squad.
BEARS: Barratt; Beddows; Conroy; Davies; Davis; Freeman; Gover; Gray; Hall; Jones; Mason; Newman; Pearce-Paul; Purslow; Rance; Ryan; Shaw; Sherratt; Williams.
VIEW FROM THE OPPOSITION CAMP
Speaking following last weekend's victory over Newcastle Thunder, Coventry Head Coach Tom Tsang said: "There’s a lot of hard work has gone into that win and for me – having been here for eight years and seen how we’ve developed and built – we’ve had a lot of tough times and a lot of good times, but that’s the highest high we’ve had.
“Newcastle are obviously tipped to be in the top two this year and for the boys to give them no respect and just rip into them from the first minute is exactly what we’ve been asking for.
“That’s the way we want to play and that’s how we’ve been training since November – it all came together and it was a perfect storm today. Everything just seem to fit in; it just shows that with work ethic and some pride in the shirt and the club, you can go a long way.
“I don’t want anyone associated with the club to get too carried away because one win doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of the season. We’ve proven to ourselves that we can win matches, now it’s just about holding onto that belief and working week-in and week-out.”
RESERVES IN ACTION THIS WEDNESDAY
On the back of Friday evening's pre-season friendly against Halifax, the Reserves are in action again on Wednesday (6th March) evening.
The Reserves welcome Super League outfit Hull FC to Cougar Park for their opening game in the Reserves Championship for a 7:45pm kick-off.
Admission for this game is £5 for Adults, £3 for Concessions and £1 for Juniors.
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