COUGARS head coach Paul March is demanding a reaction from his players in Saturday's iPro Sport Cup final after their seven-match winning streak was destroyed by London Skolars.

He admitted the performance of some players will cost them a place in the 17 to face York City Knights at Bloomfield Road following last week's 30-20 loss in the capital.

March said: “The lads knew they were all playing for shirts for Blackpool last weekend.

“We left a few people out and Jode Sheriffe didn’t play because he’s had a screw out of his ankle but he will be ready to go for the final.

“We had to leave out John Oakes last week because he always struggles with his back on that kind of surface.

“He’s now available so we have people to come back in but others let themselves down.

“I take some responsibility for that in terms of rotating the side, but everyone has had an equal opportunity to stake a claim for the shirt.

“There will be some disappointed lads on Saturday when we name the team – but the ball was in their court with their performance at London.

“We’ve been looking forward to this and obviously over the past few weeks we have been rotating players and getting ready for the final.

“But last week was a massive disappointment to us and we’re looking to be putting that right on Saturday."

A slow start cost Cougars last Saturday when they trailed 18-0 at the break and they were also 20-0 down at the same stage in their 20-12 Challenge Cup loss to Knights earlier in the season.

March knows his side must be on the money from the outset. He said: “It’s about who turns up with the right attitude and we need a reaction to the London game from the players.

“Hopefully it’s a positive one because York are a good side and if you don’t turn up with the right attitude you get burnt – as we saw at London last weekend.

“We need to make sure we come out of the blocks from the first minute because you can’t give a start to a quality side like York, as we showed by our trip there in the Challenge Cup.

“We’ve got to be on the ball and if we do then it should be a good game.”

Centre Hamish Barnes, who had been enjoying a fine season, misses out with a shoulder injury and would definitely have played otherwise.

March said: “He can’t drive or work for four weeks, so hopefully we can get him back as quickly as possible after those four weeks because he’s a massive loss to us.

“He’s only a young player coming through but he has been a revelation this year and strike players like him are hard to come by.”