COUGARS boss Craig Lingard believes the team's progress is around 75 per cent of where he wants them to be.

A tough run of games – featuring two cup defeats at Barrow and a loss at home to League One favourites Toronto – and a three-week spell of inactivity have meant Keighley have struggled to find momentum.

But two wins in their last two games in April have put them in fifth spot ahead of the trip to third-bottom Coventry on Sunday.

Reflecting on his own team's progress since taking over from Paul March in the off-season, Lingard said: "Some weeks you think we’ve got there and then the following week, you think we've gone back a couple of steps.

"There's been such a high turnover of players, while players who were here last year are still getting used to me and the other coaches and about how we want to play the game.

"It's been difficult for some of the players in that they have never had as much freedom as what I’m probably giving them.

"We give them a basic game plan and say to them 'we’ll give you a fall-back and give you certain patterns to play with start points but what happens after that – you’re on the field and it's up to you to do it'.

"Some players have taken to that really well and some are still getting to grips with it. It's still a learning process but we are getting there slowly.

"Where we are at the minute is 70-75 per cent of where we want to be, which I suppose at this stage of the season is good. It’s something to build on."