COUGARS are gearing up for the Premiership Play-offs which start on July 9 -- and now have a top two finish firmly in their sights.

With four league games to play, they are aiming to take maximum points which will ensure they stay in second place in the competition and will secure a home tie in the first round of the competition.

Despite losing the last two games, against Leigh and Doncaster Dragons, the Keighley side has held on to second place in the table on points difference.

This weekend they head to Rochdale and the following weekend travel to Sheffield before completing the league programme with home games against Whitehaven Warriors and Swinton Lions.

Coach Karl Harrison is now keen to have his squad fully fit for the play-off programme which will see the toughest matches of the campaign.

"We have just had a 14-match winning run - and if we win the next six matches we are in the final," he said.

The Northern Ford Premiership play-off competition is not being played under a straight forward knockout formula, but is designed to ensure that the top clubs do not go out at the first round stage.

If Keighley remain in second place they will start the competition with a home tie against the third placed club, but even the losers of the match match will not go out of the event. The result will determine who gets a bye into the semi-finals, with the losers earning a home tie against the winners of the knockout games between the clubs which finish from fifth to eighth in the league.

Harrison wants to see his complete pack of forwards on form for the final games with the club's double strike-force of Martin Wood and Nathan Antonik also crucial to the success of the team.

He high up the Northern Ford try-scoring table, crossing the whitewash 17 tries in Premiership matches this season, and has proved hard to stop if he is given a glimpse of the line.

Wood is having his best season with the club, dominating the team's strategy and has also shown spectacular improvement as a goal kicker which has put him to the top of the divisions points table and third place in the goal scoring league.

Super-sub Paul Owen has also proved an ace in Harrison's pack, being thrown into the thick of the action often when the opposition has been tiring, and his pace and guile have proved crucial in winning matches.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.