Go out and finish the job – that’s the message from Keighley Cougars boss Barry Eaton after his side’s stunning victory over Gateshead Thunder.

They kicked off their season with an impressive 40-20 Northern Rail Cup triumph against the Championship outfit on Tuesday.

Eaton had said his side must pick up at least one big scalp in their pool matches to stand any chance of qualifying for the competition’s knock-out stages.

Now they have done that, he is urging them not to undo the hard work when they head to Championship One rivals Black-pool on Sunday.

A swift double would leave them handily placed before a home match against Hunslet and the tough final trip to higher-ranked Barrow.

“We’ve won a home game against a Championship side and given ourselves the possible opportunity of progressing,” Eaton said.

“We’ve still another three matches to go and we lost at Blackpool in a friendly recently so we know how much they have improved.

“It’s important we go there and get the result though and if we apply ourselves like we did against Gateshead we’ll have a great chance.”

The Cougars chief was delighted by his side’s resolve and determination after they came back from a 14-12 half-time deficit to run out convincing victors.

A powerful Gateshead side had really tested the hosts and looked ominous for the second period.

But Jon Presley grabbed a quick-fire hat-trick after Gav Duffy had put them ahead shortly after the re-start and Ollie Pursglove also got over as Keighley stepped up through the gears.

“Gateshead were a big side and certainly caused us problems around the ruck,” Eaton said.

“Andrew Henderson is some player at hooker and he got their forwards running.

“That was their main threat and we struggled to hold them at times but we fixed it up at half-time and then the more the game wore on, the more confident we got.

“We finished really, really strongly. They got back to make it an eight-point ball game with ten minutes to go so it could have been nervy.

“But we kept our composure and to win by 20 was certainly a good sign.

“It definitely showed out fitness looked okay competing against a Championship side and I was really pleased.”

The game had been re-scheduled after Sunday’s initial fixture was postponed due to a frozen Cougar Park pitch.

Eaton said: “We’d only managed to train once on the pitch last week and that was on three inches of snow.

“I felt the boys were ready though so it was disappointing to see it called off on Sunday.

“I wanted to re-arrange it as quickly as possible because I know they were in the mood and they certainly deserve the plaudits after that win.”