MATCH INFORMATION
LONDON SKOLARS v KEIGHLEY COUGARS - BETFRED LEAGUE ONE ROUND FOUR
SATURDAY 16TH MARCH - 3PM KICK OFF
NEW RIVER STADIUM - HARINGEY, NORTH LONDON - N22 5QW
REFEREE - MR MATT ROSSLEIGH (LONDON)
ADMISSION:
ADULT - £15
CONCESSIONS - £10
JUNIORS - FREE
LONDON SKOLARS ALSO OFFER A TWO FOR TWENTY POUND OFFER ONLINE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/london-skolars-v-keighley-cougars-tickets-53008573069
LINNERS: ATTITUDE IS KEY
MENTALITY is key to success this season according to Cougars boss Craig Lingard.
Keighley have faced three entirely different types of opposition at the start of the new season, including a hard-fought victory against amateur side Distington in the Coral Challenge Cup at the weekend.
Lingard knows his side have the skill to cope with the rigours of the season, but says they’ve spoken about the mental side of the game too.
He added: “We went up to Whitehaven as a bit of an unknown, we didn’t know how we were going to cope there and the guys did really well.
“Then we were playing against the top of the league, having to back up the good performance at Whitehaven, which we did.
“Then we came into the weekend probably as the favourites to win the game.
“So it was three different mental challenges and I think in all three games they’ve come through pretty well.”
Cougars fourth challenge will be a trip to the capital for their tie against London Skolars on Saturday.
This battle will be played on a 4G pitch, something which Lingard admits will need to be overcome having faced wet, windy and cold conditions on boggy pitches so far.
One of Cougars’ biggest mental challenges is overcoming the 12-point deduction they were handed before the start of the season following off-field issues.
Lingard’s men already made a two point dent in the deficit with their first win against Coventry.
But it will take another five victories before they break even and Lingard says it’s tough to outline their aspirations at the moment.
The Cougars coach said: “It’s a difficult one because it’s easy for us to say we’re going to go for the play-offs, but we don’t know how the league’s going to pan out.
“We can’t control the other results and we don’t know how many points other teams are going to get.
“I said it before the start of the season that I think for anybody to get into the play-offs you’re going to need 20 points which means you’ve got to win half of your league games.
“We’re playing 20 league games this year, but with our 12 points deduction it means we’ve got to win 16 out of 20 games to get to those 20 points.
“Those 20 points might go higher, they might go lower so we can’t control that. The only thing we can control is what we do on the field.
“What we’ll do is we’ll try and knock these 12 points off as quickly as we can and then we’ll see where we are and see how many games left we’ve got to accumulate as many points as possible.”
TEAM NEWS & 19 MAN SQUADS
Head Coach Craig Lingard will be without Jamie Thackray who is ruled out with the leg injury that forced him from the field in last weekend's Coral Challenge Cup victory over Distington at Cougar Park.
Dan Parker is also unavailable for selection through a clause inserted in his transfer back to the Cougars from the Skolars that prevents Dan from featuring in the two meetings between the clubs in the 2019 season.
Josh Lynam is fit again following the quad injury that ruled him out last weekend with Jimmy Beckett and Lewis Wray both available for selection after being cup-tied by their parent clubs against Distington.
COUGARS SQUAD: Arnold; Bailey; Beckett; Cooke; Coventry; Dixon; Feather; Gaylor; Hallas; Hallett; Hardcastle; Levy; Lynam; Miller; Million; Muranka; Seeley; Welham; Wray.
London Skolars will welcome 5 players into their 19 man squad on dual-registration ahead of the visit of the Cougars.
Dan Hindmarsh, James Meadows and Jacob Ogden come in on dual-reg terms from the London Broncos with Joe Brown and Craig Mullen coming in on the same arrangement from the Wigan Warriors.
Sam Grant and Lameck Juma are both out from the side that were defeated in the Challenge Cup last weekend as are Mike Bishay and Xavier Rice.
SKOLARS SQUAD: Atmore; Brown; Bryan; Caro; J Greenhalgh; M Greenhalgh; Hindmarsh; Lloyd-Jones; Macani; Martin; Mbaraga; Meadows; Mullen; Ogden; Sykes; Thorman; Wilkinson; Williams; Yates.
BULLS GAME TO BE BROADCAST ON THE BBC
The West Yorkshire derby between Keighley Cougars and Bradford Bulls has been selected for live streaming by BBC Sport on Sunday, March 31 (2.45pm) in the Fourth Round of the Coral Challenge Cup.
The tie is set to be a mouth-watering affair as the reinvigorated Cougars, who currently play in League 1 take on Challenge Cup heavyweights and Championship side Bradford Bulls on the BBC Sport website and Red Button.
The Cougars, who earlier this year announced a takeover bid to save the club, have only previously appeared in a Challenge Cup final once before in 1937.
In the Third Round of this year’s competition they fought off a valiant display from CARLA side Distington to progress.
Their opponents in the Fourth Round, Bradford Bulls, are no strangers to the Challenge Cup final, lifting the prestigious trophy on five occasions – 1944, 1947, 1949, 2000, 2003.
Bulls’ Head Coach John Kear also led his former club Sheffield Eagles to one of the biggest Challenge Cup shocks in history when they defeated Wigan Warriors in 1998.
From Round One to Round Three over 50,000 viewers have tuned in to BBC Sport’s live streams so far in 2019.
TRAVEL SICKNESS NOT A CONCERN FOR CRAIG
KEIGHLEY COUGARS boss Craig Lingard is not worried about a long journey to the capital for their next fixture, but is all too aware of the possible travel woes that could be served up.
The Cougars take on eighth-placed London Skolars on Saturday, with the feel-good factor very much alive after two wins on the bounce - the latest seeing them bag a bumper Coral Challenge Cup tie at home to Bradford Bulls thanks to a 28-14 win over Cumbrian amateurs Distington.
Lingard’s men face a journey of just over four hours to get to the New River Stadium in the capital, making this their second longest trip in League One.
But the Cougars boss said it’s part and parcel of the division now.
He added: “I think in League One, there’s been a hell of a lot of travel over the years, going down to places like Coventry, Gloucester, and either Barrow, Whitehaven, Workington and also South Wales.
“I think the guys who have played in League One for a few years should be pretty used to that.
“It’s not too much of a concern for us and it’s about how we plan that journey and how we prepare and make sure that we have a stop and we get down there in plenty time to make sure the boys can have a stretch and prepare well enough.
“I know last year we went down to London towards the end of the season and we had guys that were stuck on the motorway and didn’t get there until half an hour before the kick-off.
“Obviously we don’t want to have a repeat of that, but we can’t control what goes on on the roads and you can only plan for setting off so early.”
Lingard is expecting a test against what he describes as a big, physical Skolars side.
He said: “They’re pretty much the same team from last year, so they’ll be fairly comfortable with how each other plays.
“So we’ve got to be expecting that challenge, certainly down the middle of the park with some of their big guys that are going to come running at us.”
REMEMBERING JONESY
A trip to London Skolars also provides a poignant reminder of four years ago, when Cougars player Danny Jones died after a cardiac arrest during the match in May 2015.
Since then, Cougars have dedicated the number six on the squad list in memory of Jones.
Current players James Feather, Josh Lynam and Matt Bailey were all squad members at the time when Jones collapsed on the pitch and Lingard said the emotion of the occasion might be something to take into consideration.
Craig Lingard said: “It might impact on these guys and it’s going to be an emotional event for everybody else concerned with Keighley.
“So it’s certainly something that we have to maybe take into account and try and harness that emotion for the guys that were involved.”
Σχόλια