Demetriou targets Grand Final place

Keighley Cougars coach Jason Demetriou is confident of going all the way as his side enter the Co-operative Championship One play-offs with a home Qualifying Semi-final against Workington Town on Sunday, September 18 (3.00pm).

Demetriou has led the Cougars into the play-offs in his first season in charge and believes promotion – and an immediate return to the Championship – is within their grasp.

“It’s good to be involved and it was one of our goals to get promotion this season,” said Demetriou, whose side finished second behind champions Swinton. “We wanted to finish top but we’ve been putting all our energy into finishing as high as possible and now we’ll hopefully get a good run in the play-offs.

“Promotion would be fantastic for us. The club is really on the verge of taking off and there have been some great structures put in place off the field. A few good signings along with promotion would hopefully get all the fans coming back through the turnstiles.

“It would be great for me personally, but promotion would mean an awful lot for the club and I think we have a squad here who can deliver that.”

Workington were victorious in the last meeting between the two teams in August but the losers of the semi-final will have the luxury of a ‘second life’ if they are not successful on Sunday – not that Demetriou is contemplating defeat.

“Workington will go into the game confident,” he said. “They beat us a few weeks ago so that will give them a boost and we know we’ll have to be at our best to ensure we win. But we’ve beaten every team in the competition so we know we have it in us.

“We haven’t spoken about what happens if we lose this game. Obviously it’s good that we’d have a second chance but it’s a tough ask for a team to pick themselves up from a defeat and then go up against a side that will have won two games in a row.

“It’s an even tougher ask when it’s a crunch game so it’s not something we’re thinking about.”