Still licking their wounds after an 84-4 pasting at the hands of Bradford Bulls, the Keighley Cougars will be looking to sneak a win when they travel to White-haven on Sunday for the first of six Northern Rail Cup matches.

Cougars have been drawn in a very tough group for the 2008 Northern Rail Cup campaign.

Their group consists of National League One sides Whitehaven and Halifax and fellow National League Two side Workington.

Cougars' head coach Barry Eaton said: "Certainly we feel we've been drawn in one of the toughest groups, but we feel we can be competitive and get a couple of positive results."

Whitehaven chairman Des Byrne echoed Eaton's sentiments about the group.

"We expect it to be one of the tougher groups, but we've won our group every year since the competition started."

Eaton said Whitehaven will be a tough opponent for the Cougars.

"They've played in two out of the last three National League Grand Finals. They have a lot of great players, many of them ex-Super League players.

"Not many people go up to Cumbria and get a result, but we're going to give it our best shot."

The Cougars have been in fine form in the pre-season, but they will be looking to recover from the beating they took from the Bulls last Sunday.

Eaton said the Cougars played pretty well defensively in the first half, holding the Super League club to 26 points.

But he also said that his team need to work on their ball control, adding: "We gifted Bradford too much possession."

With Eaton ringing the changes in the second half, he said his team struggled to find any cohesion as the Bulls rattled off another 58 points.

Eaton made 13 changes, compared to only three in the first half, saying: "I wanted to give everybody the experience of playing against the world-class players from the Bulls."

Eaton gave very few hints as to who would be in his squad of 17 this Sunday.

One certainty is new signing Andy Shickell, who he said he brought in to lead the pack.

Another is club captain James Feather.

Eaton said he chose the 23-year-old to skipper the side because he "leads by example, has a fantastic attitude, is very professional and is a role model for young rugby fans."

Feather, who was born and bred in Keighley and came up through the club's junior ranks, also captained the Cougars in some of the club's games in the latter half of last season.

On being named captain for the 2008 season, Feather said: "It's been an honour for me. Hopefully I can repay the club on the field."

He is optimistic about the Cougars chances in the league, saying: "Barry made some shrewd signings. Neil Lowe, Jermaine Wray and Andy Shickell are all class players, which we didn't have last year. We should have our eye on the top six."

For the game at Whitehaven, Eaton said that both Richard Knight and George Rayner picked up knocks last Sunday against the Bulls, and will face late fitness tests to see if they will be ready to play this weekend.

One person who won't be playing this weekend or the rest of the Northern Rail Cup camapaign is Eaton himself.

He said: "We've got four half backs capable of playing in the first team. They deserve an opportunity to be playing throughout the Northern Rail Cup. It will give them an opportunity to cement a place in the first team."

by Daryl Ames