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Neil Kelly Pre-Keighley Cougars

June 11, 2022

Cornwall RLFC head coach Neil Kelly – Patrick Tod

Cornwall RLFC head coach Neil Kelly says the pressure will be off his side when they face Keighley Cougars at the Mem tomorrow – 1.00pm.

The visitors currently sit top of the Betfred League 1 pile with a perfect record of nine wins from as many games.

In their most recent league outing, Keighley steamrollered fellow title hopefuls North Wales Crusaders 56-12 at Stadium Erias last Saturday.

At the same time, Cornwall came within four points of a first ever league victory with Kelly’s troops sunk 24-20 by London Skolars in an ill-tempered Duchy clash.

“It is such a daunting task to play Keighley with the star-studded team they’ve got,” Kelly told cornwallrlfc.co.uk.

“But in some ways it has taken the pressure off my players and the game is a free hit for us. It is an opportunity to test ourselves and although it will be so tough to get a result, every now and then, a bit like upsets we have seen in the Challenge Cup or football’s FA Cup, you do get a result.

“I don’t think anybody will look detrimental at my team if the result does go in Keighley’s favour because they are a great team.”

He added: “We are shorn of a few players for various reasons and against London Skolars we had decent strength in our side. Unfortunately, for this one, we are not as strong as we want to be but that is because we want to be stronger for what’s left in June and July because we have some winnable games in that period.”