Keighley Cougars will make a welcome return home after receiving a 50-16 thrashing at the hands of Halifax at The Shay on Tuesday night.

The Cougars have played three of their four Northern Rail Cup games on the road, and there was no away magic for Keighley at Halifax like there was against Workington the week before.

Cougars' head coach Barry Eaton said two cup ties in Cumbria, followed by the short midweek trip to Halifax means Keighley will be glad to host Whitehaven at Cougar Park on Sunday.

Eaton is hoping his accomodating side will be ready for Whitehaven in a short week of prepartion.

The Halifax game, originally scheduled for Sunday, was moved to Tuesday to allow Halifax to play host to the Melbourne Storm on Friday. Fax put in a respectable performance but lost 26-10 to the Aussies.

Any frustrations that the Halifax players might have felt after Friday were duly taken out on the Cougars on Tuesday.

Eaton said: "It was a tough game. Halifax are a good side and should be real challengers for the National League One title. They've got some fanatastic players, so it's certainly not a disgrace to lose to them. They beat Whitehaven 48-14 ten days ago."

Eaton said his side have had a tough start to the season and the midweek game did not help as the Cougars nearly had three players who could have missed the game. Due to work commitments Danny Jones, Jon Presley and Greg Nicholson showed up only 20 minutes before kick off which affected the Cougars' preparation.

Although Eaton gave credit to the home team and said it was not a factor in his team's poor first half performance which saw Fax take a 38-6 lead into the break.

In the second half Halifax only outscored Keighley 12-10.

Eaton said: "We certainly controlled the ruck a lot better in the second half. Their big forwards created a lot but we stemmed that in the second half and matched them for 40 minutes."

This Sunday (kick off 3pm) Eaton is looking for a good performance over 80 minutes to keep the Cougars' fading Northern Rail Cup hopes alive.

"We still have an outside chance of qualifying. We'll give it our best shot."

For this Sunday's match will be without one, possibly three players.

Andy Shickell has been suspended for a match for making a high tackle against Workington. Jones has a groin strain and Eaton rates his chances of playing at 50-50. Jermaine Wray also has a hamstring strain and his condition will be monitored.