Jy-mel Coleman admits he is desperate to be involved when the Cougars bid for Grand Final glory against Workington on Sunday.

The rookie half-back was instrumental last weekend as Jason Demetriou’s men overpowered Rochdale 38-23 at Cougar Park to move to within 80 minutes of promotion back to the Co-operative Championship.

Sunday’s showdown at Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium will be the biggest match of their careers for many Keighley players, and Coleman is hoping he has done enough to keep his spot.

The former London Skolars man made the most of his recall against the Hornets by producing a classy display and dovetailing effectively with Demetriou throughout.

Coleman - who arrived at Cougar Park in June - said: “We were pretty dominant against Rochdale last week and knew that if we could complete our sets then our skill would prevail.

"Luckily we did that, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

"I’ve been in and out of the team since I came to Keighley and have had to work hard to get back in the team.

"But hopefully I can stay in the side for this week’s match against Workington. It’s a massive game."

Last weekend’s clash saw Rochdale scored two converted tries against the run of play through Andy Saywell and Wayne English before the Cougars replied before the break through Ben Sagar.

Sagar then claimed his second and Danny Lawton also went over before Rochdale hit back in the 54th minute when Steve McDermott raced clear.

However, Keighley responded again through Gavin Duffy and, although a drop-goal from Paul Crook edged Rochdale 23-22 ahead, the Cougars sealed the win with a late tries from James Haythornwaite (2) and Jake Normington.

Coleman grew up in confidence as the game against Rochdale progressed and was at the heart of all the Cougars’ best moves.

Having a 35-year-old former Super League stalwart alongside clearly helped.

"It’s quite easy playing with JD because his experience," said Coleman.

"He talks me through the game and when I get a bit lost he’s there shouting and screaming at me, telling me what I need to do.

"He gets me back on track and that’s really helpful."

Demetriou’s men failed to perform when they faced Workington a fortnight ago and cannot afford any repeat of that in this weekend’s winner-takes-all clash.

"It’s massive, absolutely massive," added Coleman.

"I think it’s the biggest game of my career, surely.

"I think you could say that about a lot of the other guys as well.

"Hopefully we won’t just turn up. We’re going there to win.

"Luckily we’ve got another chance but we won’t have one next week.

"It’s do or die so we have to turn and perform.

"We’ve worked hard all week and hopefully we can turn up and give a good account of ourselves.

"I know there’s lots of talk about players coming in and this, that and the other.

"But as long as we can keep a core group of lads together and have a good pre-season then there’s no reason why we can’t stay up in the league above. We need to get there first and everyone is focused on achieving that on Sunday."