Keighley Cougars v Coventry Bears Match Preview

By Mike Hyde

The Bears are back on their travels again this weekend as they travel up to Keighley in West Yorkshire for a game this Sunday at Cougar Park.

If the Bears are still smarting from the 20-28 loss against London Skolars in their last game, then the Cougars are probably feeling exactly the same having lost 24-30 at home to Whitehaven in what sounds like a very similar game.

Keighley are currently sitting in eighth position in League one, with Hunslet the only ‘traditional’ Northern team beneath them in the pecking order.

They have had a faltering start to the season, winning four and losing four, so they might just be vulnerable to a Coventry side who are showing real flashes of what they are capable of, despite a series of losses.

When the two teams played last time, almost exactly a year ago, it was one of those games which Bears fans recognise as being typical of last season. The Bears had started badly and by half time were down 8-34 in front of a stunned Butts Park crowd.

Tom’s talk in the interval must have worked as the Bears came out a different team, outscoring their Yorkshire opponents 16-10 in the second half. But as everyone knows, there’s no prize for just winning half a game!

So, on to Sunday, and if the Bears can reproduce some of the speed and moves they showed against Skolars AND do this for 80 minutes rather than 50 or 60, then an upset  may just be on the cards.

1.Rhys Gant

2.Jacob Ogden

3.Jason Bass

4.Kameron Pearce Paul

5.Dante Morley Samuels

6.Paul Emmanuelli

7.Ben Stead

8.James Geurtjens

9.Zak Williams

10.Dan Gover

11.Ashley Bateman

12.James Mason

13.Chris Vitaini

14.Lewis Lord

15.Mal Lloyd Jones

16.Joel Thomas

17.Richie Hughes

18.John Aldred

19.Hayden Freeman