Jason Demetriou says a “burning desire” is fuelling the Cougars’ bid to secure an immediate return to the Co-operative Championship.

Keighley were relegated to the third tier last season amid financial woes and a nine-point deduction but Demetriou has presided over an impressive renaissance at Cougar Park, which could be completed with victory over Workington on Sunday (1.30pm).

The veteran player-coach, 35, will travel to Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium in confident mood after dispatching Rochdale Hornets last weekend to book their place in Sunday’s televised Grand Final.

Demetriou said: “After relegation last year, we’ve got a real burning desire to get promoted and put together a team that can compete next year in the Championship.

“But we’re 80 minutes away from achieving it and there’s a Workington team who want to stop us doing that.

“I can’t wait to get out there on Sunday and hopefully get the win and make everyone in Keighley proud.”

Demetriou could barely conceal his delight after his men ran in seven tries past Rochdale last weekend to seal a thrilling 38-23 success.

It was a performance which left him in optimistic mood as they prepare to face a Workington side who beat them at Cougar Park a fortnight ago.

Against the Hornets, Demetriou’s men dominated the physical battle up front and underlined their finishing power with some fine tries.

“Our pack is awesome, I’ve said it all year,” enthused Demetriou, who dovetailed effectively with Jy-mel Coleman throughout against the Hornets.

“I enjoyed it and I absolutely love playing with these guys.

“I haven’t enjoyed my rugby this much in about two or three years to be honest.

“They’re a special bunch and I’m lucky that I’ve inherited them.”

After a sub-standard performance against Workington in their recent meeting, which the Cumbrians won 19-10 to progress straight to the Grand Final, Demetriou is confident his men can rise to the challenge this weekend.

The Aussie, who will be reluctant to make changes to his side following the dominant display against Rochdale, said: “We’ll do what we do every other week, the game’s not going to change.

“Obviously we played Workington two weeks ago, so we’ll have a look at the tape and see where we went wrong and where we need to fix.

“But we will go into the game confident. And, to be honest, I’m happy that we didn’t have the weekend off last weekend.

“I’m glad that we got out there against Rochdale, got the win and built up some momentum for Sunday.

“Does the last game against Workington have a bearing on this week? Of course it does.

“We’ve got to learn from our mistakes in the past couple of weeks but if we can get an 80-minute performance together then someone could be on the back of a hiding.”