AFTER cruising into the next round of the Powergen Challenge Cup, Cougars return to Arriva Cup action on Sunday -- with a tough trip to Dewsbury.

Games at the Rams Stadium have always been tough encounters in recent years, but the new sense of optimism racing through the Cougar ranks has given hopes of springing another surprise.

After the classic opening day victory over Doncaster, and last weekend's comfortable win against Thornhill Trojans, there are real hopes that they can keep their momentum going.

Despite their 33-10 victory over Thornhill, Cougar coach Gary Moorby was disappointed that his team allowed their level of play to drop in the second half, after opening up a 20-0 half time lead.

"We obviously lost our momentum in the second half of the game. I don't want to take anything away from Thornhill who came to have a go and did themselves proud, but I felt we allowed our intensity to drop off.

"That is something which often happens when you start to feel comfortable, and we must learn to keep up our concentration at all times.

"However, at the end of the day we achieved what we set out to do and made it two wins from two games. We have a tough fixture at Dewsbury this weekend and we will have to make sure we remain totally focused for the full 80 minutes."

The Cougar team came through the game relatively unscathed, but three players picked up slight injuries. Oliver Wilkes has a knee injury, Ricky Helliwell has a sore groin and Ian Sinfield picked up a rib injury.

"They are not too serious but we will delay our team selection until after training on Friday evening. Max Tomlinson has returned from visiting his ill father in Jamaica and reported for training this week, he has some catching up to do and is unlikely to figure for another couple of weeks.

"We have several fit players desperate to get into the thick of the action including Lee kelly, Matt Steel, Adam Mitchell and Phil Guck who have not figured yet and are in need of some game time, so we might make one or two changes to the 17-man squad.

Dewsbury will see the return of full-back Nathan Batty and have also signed Chris Parker from Bradford Bulls, but they have been far from convincing so far this season and their coach, Andy Fisher, is certain he will have a tough game on his hands.

"Nothing is taken for granted in this game. Keighley are a vastly improved side this season," he said..

After their victory over the Trojans Cougars face a trip to Sheffield where they will take on the Eagles in the fourth round of the competition.

"It is an interesting draw and one that we really fancy our chances or winning. We still have bad memories of last season's trips to don Valley and this is an ideal opportunity to put things straight," Moorby said.

He is also looking for a big contingent of Cougar fans to make the trip to Dewsbury on Sunday.

"It will certainly be a tough game and the lads have already told me what a difference the crowd can make, particularly when we are facing tough opposition.

"They were given a big lift during the Doncaster game and I hope our fans will get behind the lads at Dewsbury on Sunday, it has all the makings of another classic encounter," he said.