Keighley Cougars head coach Barry Eaton is targeting an improvement in defence when his side travel north for their Northern Rail Cup tie against Workington on Sunday.

In two matches in the cup competition the Cougars have suffered losses to National League One sides Whitehaven and Halifax. Eaton is now happy for his squad to take on fellow National League Two team Workington this weekend.

"We've had to play to two top National League One teams, and although there's still a long way to go in the competition it'll be nice to play against someone from our level."

Workington, however, will not be an easy win for the Cougars.

In a local derby played last Sunday, Eaton said Workington gave Whitehaven a "fright"; only losing by eight points (26-18) to a club from a higher division.

Eaton said: "Workington will be strong contenders in the league. Not many who go up to Workington will get a result."

But Eaton remains optimistic about getting a win against a club who will be likely to finish in the top five in the league this season.

He said: "The side that performs the best on the day will get a result."

Eaton's Cougars did well to score 40 points at Halifax last Sunday. However they also gave up a whopping 64 points to the Blue Sox.

Eaton said: "I haven't got too many issues with the attacking play but I have one or two issues with the defence."

"We missed a lot of one-on-one tackles and often found ourselves defending on the back foot."

He also said that contact in the tackle needs to be addressed this week in training.

"We will working on some different defensive techniques so we can develop some consistency week in, week out."

The Cougars had two players suffer injuries against Halifax.

Hooker Jermaine Wray suffered a sternum injury and winger James Hutchinson had to leave the field with a neck and shoulder injury. They will assessed this week and may or may not feature on Sunday.

The match at Derwent Park kicks off at 3pm.