Cougar powerhouse forward Danny Ekis might not be the biggest prop in professional Rugby League - but he certainly packs a powerful punch.

The 22-year-old stood head and shoulders above the rest in Sunday's clash with Halifax - shining brighter than a host of former Super League stars - as he helped Keighley send his home-town club crashing to a 26-8 defeat.

This week he was named Arriva Trains Cup Player of the Week for the fifth round ties. He will be presented with his trophy at the next home game, against Rochdale on April 4.

Halifax were relegated from Super League at the end of last season, and were hot favourites to win the Arriva Cup after going through the early games undefeated. But Cougars stopped them in their tracks with a stunning performance.

Danny came off the bench and played a major role in the victory, scoring a the decisive 57th minute try and dominating the Halifax pack that contained several ex-internationals.

Coach Gary Moorby said: "I'm absolutely delighted for Danny. I brought him from Halifax and he's certainly justified my faith in him. He may not be the biggest player in the game but he's a solid 15 stone and works really hard.

"He's put in a tremendous effort during close season training and his performance against Halifax was outstanding.

"His closest friend is Bradford Bulls and Great Britain forward Stuart Fielden and when the Bulls don't have a game Stuart often comes to watch Danny in action.

"He's a great clubman and winning this award is a real tribute to his commitment to the game and club."

Moorby was delighted with the performance of his team which sent Halifax crashing to defeat.

"It was obviously our best performance of the season so far. Our commitment and enthusiasm was second to none and I thought we beat them in almost every department.

"We controlled the ball very well, our completion rate was over 70per cent which is the best we've had all season, which tells its own story. Our defence was superb particularly the way we defended our line against the slope in the second half, and our discipline was excellent.

"We have been working very hard on on defence recently and on Sunday we got in right."

"We have lost seven players from last year's squad and I must admit I thought we would gell together quicker than we have, the signs are now looking good and we have to use this performance as our benchmark from now on. Consistency is what we are looking for, we have to kick on from this effort," he said.

He is now looking for a repeat on their early season 42-6 victory over Workington.

"Games in Cumbria are traditionally tough encounters and we are not anticipating anything else. I have told the guys to forget the scoreline when we played at Cougar Park because Town will be looking to make amends on their own ground. However, if we pick up where we left off last week we can go into the game with confidence.

There were no major injury problems following last week's game. James Rushforth and Matt Foster, who returned from injury and made a big impact, came through unscathed. Richard Mervill is making steady progress but may be out of action for another week or two.