COUGAR fans saw a glimpse of the club's glory years as Karl Smith snatched a last minute try to snatch victory from Hunslet's grasp on Sunday.

They rolled back the years at Cougar Park as the patched up team, which was packed with local talent, grabbed a 26-24 win against the odds. Smith lined up alongside powerhouse forward Phil Stephenson and was joined by Johnny Williams from Silsden and Albion's Chris Hogg. Also in the line-up was Chris Hannah while former Albion skipper Craig Morphet lined up with the opposition.

Morphet so impressed coach Steve Deakin that he was snapped up by his home town club and was in the team for Wednesday night's game against Whitehaven.

The Cumbrian club secured a 30-4 victory, but it was no one-sided game as the young stars turned on another heroic performance.

"I was really proud of every player who took the field in both games, they gave everything. We just ran out of steam against Whitehaven but the performance was superb and gave me real hope for the future.

"Whitehaven have had virtually the same side all season, we have had just three training sessions together and the improvements I have seen in that time have been superb. We have to improve the levels of fitness and the speed of play - but we will get there," Deakin said.

Matt Foster is due to make his return to first team action against Dewsbury after returning from a loan spell with Sheffield. The ankle injury which kept him out of action for over a year is fully recovered and he is rebuilding his fitness fast. "I felt good at Sheffield and I'm looking forward to playing on Sunday -- if selected," he said.

But while the club is recovering from the player-walkout, which saw the majority of senior players head for other clubs, it still faces a race against time to beat looming financial deadlines.

At last week's crisis meeting fans were told the club needed £200,000 to see it through until the end of the financial year in November and cash needs to be found in the next few weeks. Approaches have been made to Bradford Council, which is bankrolling Bradford Bulls to the tune of £1.2 million over two years following their move to Valley Parade.

"We know it is not easy for the council, but it does seem unfair that Bradford gets so much.

"We hope they will be able to come up with some form of help to tide us over this next few months. We have drastically cut costs and will be able to go forward -- but the club needs help now.

"With the amount of work we do in the schools and in the wider community we cannot let this club die," said general manager Gary Murgatroyd.