COUGARS have another weekend off as they prepare for a tough encounter with Dewsbury Rams.

They should have been making the journey to Gateshead this weekend, but that game has been postponed until June 19 at the request of the North East club.

But despite the weekend without a game there will be no rest for the players who have had a tough training schedule since their clash with Swinton Lions.

Coach Gary Moorby has been keen to cut out the unforced errors that have given victory to the Keighley side's opponents several times this season.

Mistakes mean the Cougar players have to work harder for every inch of ground and are forced to endure long periods of stamina-sapping defensive work.

The problem was highlighted when a knock-on, virtually from the kick-off handed an early try to the Lions.

But Moorby was quick to defend full back Matt Bramald who was taken by surprise when the pass came his way.

"He was running a 'dummy line' and should not have been given a pass in that situation," Moorby said.

He added: "We gave ourselves the worst possible start, that unforced error on the second play of the game was a nightmare , we conceded a try on the following set of six and we were always behind from that point onwards.

"We hit back with a well worked try with something we had worked on in training but then gradually strayed away from the game plan. We are shooting ourselves in the foot far to often.

"We gave away far to much cheap ball which led to a 50 per cent completion rate in the first half.

"The game is hard enough without giving the opposition more opportunities with the ball than their fair share. All we need to do is smarten up, start doing the 'little things' correctly and we are good enough to compete with any team in the competition.

"The lads were very disappointed with the result against the Lions, and rightly so, but I am confident we will bounce back."

Next week's game against Dewsbury Lions will again prove a tough test. Meetings between Cougars and the Dewsbury side always have a little 'extra edge' and the Cougar players will need no further incentive to give 100 per cent effort.

But the frustrations of the stop-start season have got deeper with a string of injuries.

Lewis Taylor broke a bone in his hand early in the Swinton game and is expected to be out of action for some time.

Phil Guck returned to training and was due to have a game with the Under-21s this week, but pulled up with a recurrence of his thigh injury and is due to see a specialist

Moorby has been given a boost with a return to training for most of his injured players. Chris Parker is to see a specialist with a knee injury.

Danny Ekis and Jordan Ross have returned to training and could be in the squad for the Dewsbury game.

"We are trying to get some consistency in the team and these breaks make it very frustrating for everyone concerned.

"They are bad for the club, bad for players and bad for the spectators, but it is out of our hands, all we can do is make sure the players are ready for the next game," Moorby said.