KEIGHLEY Cougars coach Gary Moorby was left with the unenviable task of lifting his team this weekend after suffering one of their heaviest defeats of the season at Featherstone.

Perhaps fortunately for Moorby they face Gateshead Thunder away on Sunday, a team they have already beaten twice in the Northern Ford Premiership this season - 32-10 at Cougar Park and 32-16 at the International Stadium.

That should give Cougars the chance to bounce back quickly and wipe away some of the memories of the 66-14 drubbing they suffered at Rovers.

Moorby was philosophical about the result, but knows his task is almost as monumental as it was when he took over back in January.

"It was a very disappointing result for us," he admitted. "It was always going to be a tough fixture, Featherstone are a big strong side and were coming off a heavy defeat at Batley the previous week.

"They were at home and obviously determined to make amends. We had prepared well as usual, but unfortunately on the day we were blown away. We did have our problems in that we had three forwards missing - Oliver Wilkes (suspended) Lee Kelly (ankle ligaments) and Danny Ekis (sickness) - therefore cutting our options down considerably.

"Consequently our bench was probably the lightest we have fielded all season. We must have given away least a stone per man in weight. In Jowett and Booth they had two subs that made Phil Stephenson look small.

"Having said that some of our tackling was woeful with far too many one-on-one tackles missed, and that is something we need to sort out very quickly. Hopefully the missing players will be available for the trip to Gateshead and it is very likely there will be changes.

"We had a good talk about the Featherstone game at training on Tuesday and watched a video - it was a nightmare.

"We really got the backlash for Featherstone's defeat at Batley the previous week. Now it is up to us to take it out on Gateshead."

On the injury front, Craig Horne came through the Featherstone game unscathed following his hamstring problems and Stuart Calvert could return to action this weekend with a run-out with the Academy side at Sheffield Eagles tomorrow (12.30pm).