KEIGHLEY COUGARS boss Alan Kilshaw wants his side to finish the season on a high and show their true colours ahead of next season.
It’s been a disappointing season for the Cougars which resulted in the mid-season arrival of Kilshaw, who has overseen a few changes and an upturn in form that has seen them win five of their last eight matches, a run perhaps more akin to what was expected of them before the season started.
After a comfortable win over Newcastle Thunder last time out in their final home game of the season, Keighley finish the season on the road with tricky games at Midlands and North Wales.
Kilshaw said: “We want to finish really strong. Every two points matters and we want to finish as high in the table as we can.
“It’s a chance to show what we’re about as a team and how far we’ve grown. We’ll be taking the games very seriously. We’ll be well supported there and we owe that to our supporters, as we’ve only won once away all year at Newcastle, so it’s really important we try and get those victories and kick-on to the off-season.
“It’s been a little bit of a transitional period but you can see the improvement through the players we’ve brought in and the changes we’ve made and we want to finish the season in as good a form as possible.”
Kilshaw also paid tribute to Newcastle for their efforts in defeat, to the retiring Adam Ryder and the atmosphere at Cougar Park following their final home game.
Ryder revealed he would be hanging up his boots at the end of the season recently and helped set up one of the tries for hat-trick hero Andy Gabriel.
He added: “We showed great commitment to nil them, we’ve nilled them twice this season and not everyone will have done that. They’re improving and you’ve got to credit them for turning up every week and having a dig and making it tough for the opposition teams.
“Ryder got a bit of a knock but it was a good send off for him from Cougar Park. It was a great atmosphere today with the kids before the game and it was a really good crowd, and just felt like a really special day. We want more days like this at Cougar Park so hopefully we can build on that for next season.”