PLAYING the match and not the occasion is the message from Keighley Cougars' strength and conditioning coach Paul Royston when they face a crucial basement battle on Sunday.

Cougar Park will be a sea of rainbow colours as they host bottom-placed West Wales Raiders in the Betfred League One on Sunday (3pm kick-off).

The Cougars players will be sporting a special one-off kit for the clash featuring the rainbow colours to mark the Cougarmania Pride match, celebrating the Pride movement's 50th anniversary. The occasion has also attracted a host of special guests including model and TV personality Katie Price, Coronation Street actor Antony Cotton and Wakefield Trinity prop Keegan Hirst.

The day's festivities at Cougar Park get under way at 1pm and will include drag performers, give-aways and a barbecue. Fans can even enjoy lunch and a reception with Miss Price.

Cougars are also making a return to the pitch after two weeks away on Sunday following a blank weekend from action.

Although Royston acknowledges the importance of the message the day sends, he says his second-from-bottom Cougars need to remain focused on events on the pitch.

Royston said: "The kits look really good, the players really like them and are up for the game.

"The razzamatazz does not do us any harm. It creates interest in the club. It is up to us to keep focused on the field.

"The razzamatazz is what will get more spectators down. The owners are great at that.

"The players need to think that they are 100 per cent playing for their places. They can't be taken in by anything that is happening off the field on Sunday.

"Just for us to get off the bottom is a good aspect to the season. We need to be pushing on together now and finish as high as we can.

"This weekend gives us a good chance to widen the gap with West Wales. We just need to play how we've been practising. The guys have been putting a lot of work and hours in training.

"We do really need to have a team next year that can really compete.

"There are a lot of people working really, really hard behind the scenes."

Meanwhile, Cougars' hierarchy and coaching staff will be grilled by the club's fans later this month.

Head coach Rhys Lovegrove and chairman Mick O'Neill will take part in a questions and answers session at Cougar Park on Friday, July 19 at the club's Hall of Fame Bar from 7.30pm. Free entrance for Cougars Spporters' Club members, £2 for non-club members.

The fundraising Cougar Park Rocks will take place at the club's ground on Saturday, July 20. It is then latest event for player Josh Lynam's testimonial year.

Live bands, including The Sheratons, Buster Roughneck and Night Patrol, will take to the stage between 1pm and 7pm. This will be followed by DJ sets from Richard Osadzenko and 'Phat Fingerz' Dean Loynes from 8pm. For tickets, priced £15 for full access, £10 for retro night and DJs only, Under-14s free when accompanied by an adult, go to ticketsource.co.uk/josh-lynam-testimonial. Funds will go to the Motor Neurone Disease Association.