After he'd fluffed Keighley's second try, Ethan Ryan seemed to flick a switch and was absolutely solid from then on. One of the best wingers in the division, not so sure about him as a fullback though. Having seen Ryan & Pickersgill playing fullback this year, I'm not so sure McNally doesn't need a replacement signing.

DFJ I thought was up for it, but executed a few things quite poorly. I'd take effort over skill in most situations though, and he is definitely full of effort. Can see why he's popular.

Flanagan & Crossley head and shoulders above the others though.

I though Ryan had a shocking 50-60 mins but as said above once Keighley scored their 2nd try he caught everything that came his way. I'd personally put Pickersgill back at FB with Ryan on the wing where he can do some damage. I'd sooner try get a better FB in though if possible.

What was Milnes doing today? Trying the long ball every single time. Turned into Chisholm of early last season. I know he's young but today was a great chance for him to show that he can control the game, instead I think the occasion got to him. We also hardly went out the back which could have resulted in at least 3-4 tries.

Glad Wilson got some game time. Did he go off injured? And glad to see Hodgson get on, although I can understand why he's not been selected. Although I'll give the lad some credit he was playing prop when he's a 2nd rower.

Thought Gibson was solid but DFG, Crossley and Flanagan were above everyone else. Also thought Wildie had an okay game, much better distribution than Hallas at hooker.

Credit to the Cougars though, how good was their defence? And they stuck the game plan effectively and had a real dig today. Another day that could have been a huge win for them! Good crowd and a good boost financially to both clubs!

Roll on the 5th Round. I personally want either Thatto Heath away/home or Leeds away!

Evans
Webster
Chizzy
Lilley
Kirk
Hallas
Green
Farrell
Wood

All back in next week.
After such a shocker of a performance, No one did enough to force any of them out of the side.
It will be interesting to see who plays 1 next week

I can honestly say after watching all 6 friendlies, 8 league games and a cup game ive got no idea what our best/first choice 17 looks like

We haven't even seen Keyes, Peltier or Milton this season. We've had a shocking year for injuries so far. Plus Hitchcox to come back. We could really do some damage if we had all our players fit.

The full-back position is a real conundrum. With Pickersgill being hauled off half-way through the second half, I'm not sure we'll see him back in just yet.

Ryan's our best player, but I thought he was ineffective yesterday. Ignoring his errors he struggled coming into the line and drawing a defender in IMO. Also his absence on the wing was noticeable. DFJ is definitely worth a place in the side for his work rate, but with Ryan at FB we're missing some real strike out wide as neither Grant or DFJ are acrobatic finishers.

We need to get Ryan back on the wing IMO anyone think it maybe worth giving Stephenson a crack at FB?

Thought Keighley were tremendous, such a wholehearted performance deserved better, to be honest.

We defended well, as we have done all season to be fair, but looked 'loose' on attack; too many long balls out wide with no effort to make an overlap and giving the winger (usually DFJ) not a chance in hell. Cougars also defended as though their lives depended on it and made it difficult but we should have responded better than we did. Not sure the criticism of Ryan is totally justified, he was out jumped, in fact he made no effort to jump, for a Keighley try, but the guy, in full flight, running down the wing is always the one with the advantage in that situation as long as he catches it, of course, which he did superbly. Ethan is still 'feeling his way' at no.1 so it's unfair not to expect the odd blunder.

Cougars 9/10, Bulls 5/10 largely for the defensive effort.

Thought it was our worst attacking performance of the season. How many times did we hand over possession on their line at the end of a set? Far too often!

Neither half seemed to have any clear idea of what to do to finish off a set and we took a series of wrong options. When we tried to move the ball we were stood too shallow or passed too slowly to make any headway. I think the Milnes/Pickersgill partnership should be consigned to the dustbin of history.

Even when Wildie moved back to scrum half we seemed to only want to attack down the right and wherever we attacked we ran sideways or in ones. There seemed to be no cohesion or teamwork. A lot of energy was expended for no real result.

Despite that I thought Flanagan had his best game for a while and we can thank him for the win. For Keighley I thought they were a little unlucky with a couple of calls.

Real difference was that Keighley appeared to want the win, we looked as just there making up the numbers which is an attitude problem. We had many full time players who looked as they had never trained together. As much as I'm concerned about the display and lack of direction on the field you have to question how much the coaching staff got them up for yesterday? The rested / injured will change the team greatly but why were we so under cooked for a cup game?

It looked to me like some of the fringe players were very rusty which is natural given the lack of reserves games available. Having a new halfback pairing didn’t help either. Ryan was having only his second game at fullback so the spine of the team was completely different.

Our defence wasn’t as good as in recent weeks either and lacked a bit of intensity. I think we expected an easier game than we got. Some of the fringe players didn’t do their causes much good.