North Wales Crusaders head coach Carl Forster said he’s expecting a touch challenge this weekend as his side welcome Keighley Cougars to Colwyn Bay knowing victory would seal the Betfred League One title.
Forster saw his side return to winning ways last week as they put on an impressive display on the North Wales coast to see off an in-form Goole Vikings side 31-6.
The victory moved Crusaders to within one win of the league title, with two games remaining, however, speaking to the media this week, Forster said he’s expecting a fierce encounter when Keighley come to town this week.
“First and foremost, they’ll want to come here and spoil the party, he said.
“No team is going to come to Colwyn Bay and roll over for us, and whilst we all know what’s at stake, before we can get to that point we have to overcome a very good Keighley side.
“They’ve had a bit of turmoil over the course of the season, but I thought when we played them up at their place it was probably one of the best sides we’ve come up against all year.
“Since that game they’ve had more time to work under Alan Kilshaw who always sets his team up as hard to beat, and we expect nothing less than that this weekend.
“On that basis, we take preparation this week really seriously, I want to see the same attitude from the lads as I saw in the build-up to Goole, and I want focus on the basics and putting the game before the occasion.
“If we do our job, the accolades and celebrations will come, but if we arrive on Sunday in party mode, then that bubble will be very quickly burst.
“I think now we can all play our part in getting over the line, that’s myself and my coaching staff making sure we’re setup and in the right mindset, the players putting in the type of performance which we know we’re capable of and also the supporters turning up in numbers and making a noise from the first to the last minute.”
Whilst Crusaders welcome Keighley to Stadiwm CSM, fellow title challengers Workington Town shall host Rochdale in Cumbria. However, Forster won’t be looking at results elsewhere this weekend: “For me, it’s not about that [Rochdale beating Workington], I think if you’re going to go and win a title then you want to be doing that on your own terms.
“I don’t want to lose the game and have to be sat around waiting for other results to see if they go our way – we want to do this on our own terms and give our fans something to cheer about.”
Touching on last week’d victory, Forster added: “We eased some of the pressure on ourselves with the win over Goole.
“We went back to what we know we’re good at, got the basics right for the majority of the game and I thought we really controlled it for large parts.
“We had the likes of Jordan Case and Ben Evans come back from injury, I thought Pat Ah Van made a big difference for us back at centre and Toby Hughes but in a really good shift at half-back.
“We’ll look at a few lads on the back of that game and a few who didn’t make it into the squad, because everyone will want to be out on that pitch this weekend so I’m going to have some difficult calls to make this week, but that’s my job and is a nice issue to have.”