COUGARS player-coach Paul March wants to win the iPro Sport Cup to fuel the club’s bid for an immediate return to the Championship.

Having destroyed amateurs East Leeds in the first round, Keighley host league Swinton Lions in the quarter-finals on Sunday.

The final of the newly-formed League One-based competition will be played at Blackpool Football Club’s Bloomfield Road stadium on Saturday, May 23 as part of the Summer Bash.

The two-day event sees all 12 Championship clubs play one league fixture, and Cougars are hoping to reach the showpiece and lift the trophy in the famous seaside resort.

March said: “It will lay down a marker for us if we could win this competition.

“We spoke about it in pre-season and we felt that we should have been going to Bloomfield Road as one of the 12 Championship clubs.

“We’re in League One, but one of our goals is to get to the final of the iPro Sport Cup and make sure we’re part of things at the Summer Bash.

“It would be great to win the trophy and lay down a marker, which is what we’re planning on doing.

“Hopefully, it will give us some momentum to do well in the league and show other teams that we mean business.”

March admits his side must make significant improvements this weekend following last Sunday’s Challenge Cup third-round exit at Barrow.

Cougars lost 38-22 in a match that was overshadowed by an injury to Barrow’s Lee Haney, which saw him airlifted to hospital shortly after the final hooter.

March admitted there was no justification for such a poor display and he could make changes for Swinton’s visit.

The player-boss, who could feature himself against the Lions following his recovery from injury, said: “We were a bit off the pace individually against Barrow and we’ve got some things to put right.

“If you want to win cup competitions, you’ve got to beat the better teams and Swinton are certainly one of the better sides in this competition at the moment.”

Cougars lost 33-26 to Swinton in a pre-season friendly at Cougar Park just over a month ago.

March said: “We didn’t do ourselves justice that day but it was only our second pre-season outing.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how far we’ve come and hopefully we can put that defeat at Barrow behind us.

“The Challenge Cup was a bit of a distraction to us last season but we haven’t got that now.

“Our main focus now is the iPro Sport Cup and obviously gaining promotion back to where we should be.”

March was due to assess the fitness of centre Daley Williams (back) and loose forward Ash Lindsay (ribs) at training this week after they picked up injuries at Barrow.

“We spoke about the performance on Sunday right after the game and we watched the video of it at training on Tuesday, which doesn’t lie,” said March.

“Myself and Luke Haigh are ready to come back after being injured so, come tonight at training, we will pick a squad and there might be a few changes.”