Huddersfield 66, Cougars 0 - GIANTS expect to bounce straight back into Super League and their one-sided demolition job on the Cougars backed up the hopes of their army of fans.

For the Cougar faithful the performance of their team gave warning of a long hard season ahead.

There was little stand-in coach Paul Moses could do after being asked to step in when Steve Deakin left to take on the assistant coaching job at London Broncos.

He was left with a wafer-thin squad riddled with injuries.

The coach was forced to play his men out of their usual positions - and face the biggest team in the Northern Ford Premiership.

It would have taken a superhuman effort for Keighley to match the Huddersfield side who are Giants in name and real giants compared with Keighley's lightweight team.

Jason Ramshaw was out of action with a shoulder injury and his absence left a big hole in the centre of the field, and in the organisation of the team.

But Cougars were always due to be given a lesson in rugby league by the confident Huddersfield side. The writing was on the wall back in November when they met in a pre-season friendly.

Although Cougars fought their way back to a final score of 22-30, they had been struggling at 20-4 until the Giants replaced many of their first choice players.

Huddersfield didn't waste time stamping their authority on the game on Tuesday. They hammered through the Cougar left wing to score their first try within the first minute.

Hooker Paul March chipped through and Hefin O'Hare out-paced Mick Durham, who had a two yard advantage, to make the touchdown.

The one-way traffic continued throughout 80 painful minutes as the disorganised Cougar defence was ripped to shreds.

The clear lessons which will come from a study of the video will be that the defensive line needs to stand firm. Each player must be responsible for his own position - and for that of the men on either side.

Too often they went chasing shadows and left huge gaps in the defence which allowed the grateful attackers to stroll over.

Fromer Bulls player Steve McNamara added a penalty to stretch the lead to 6-0.

Stand-in full back Ben Cooper got the first of his hat-trick of tries on the left before Craig Horne broke away for a rare Cougar attack. He threw away possession as he was bundled into touch and Karl Smith was placed on report for a high tackle as he stopped the Giants' advance.

Further tries from Eorl Crabtree, Cooper and former Cougar Graeme Hallas, together with three conversions from McNamara secured a 32-0 half time lead.

Danny Fearon was held over the line as the clock ticked down to to the break, the closest the Cougars came to scoring.

A missed touch kick from Keighley early in the second half set up substitute Darren 'Rocky' Turner for the first of his hat-trick of tries. His second came minutes later and David Atkins strolled through a mile-wide gap on the left.

Chris Molyneux's converted try stretched the lead to 54-0 before Cougar hero Phil Stephenson added to the club's woes when he limped of with a knee injury.

Chris Thorman, who had taken over kicking duties in the second half, chipped in with his own converted try and Turner completed his hat-trick with Thorman tagging on the kick to complete the scoring.

For the dejected Cougar side it seemed an eternity before the final hooter sounded and the task of rebuilding the shattered confidence of his side will be the first job Paul Moses needs to address.

There were few rays of hope from the Cougar performance although Steve Pickles, Craig Horne and David Foster stood out while Phil Stephenson should be holding a masterclass in tackling skills for the rest of the team.

Huddersfield: Cooper, O'Hare, Crabtree, Hallas, Langley; Thorman, Moxon; Slicker, March, Wittenberg, Atkins, Roberts, McNamara. Subs (all used): Rice, Turner, Whittaker, Molyneux.

Cougars: Rushforth; Horne, Smith, Wilkes, Durham; Fearon, Ashdon; Stephenson, Firth, Shaw, Foster, Banks, Pickles. Subs (used): Mitchell, Hannah, Morphett.