YORK-BASED centre Dan Potter rejected suggestions Keighley Cougars might be “ring rusty” in tomorrow’s Championship One play-off tussle with York City Knights.

The Cougars have been out of action since confirming second place in the table with a 28-10 win at London Skolars on August 28.

The Knights, by contrast, ended their regular season with a 46-28 home win over Swinton Lions on September 5.

But Potter, who heads a batch of former York players in the Cougars ranks, insists Keighley are ready for the Cougar Park clash.

“It is three and a half weeks since our last game, and you can either be rusty or it gives you a chance to get over any knocks,” said Potter.

“We’ve gone pretty well in training and everybody is fit and ready for it.

“There is a bit of history because a couple of our guys played at York and they have some ex-Keighley players in their squad. That always makes it interesting and, if this year is anything to go by, it is going to be a close game. We won by a point at our place and then York won by two at their place.”

Potter tasted Grand Final glory with Dewsbury Rams in 2000 and is desperate to repeat the feat.

“It would be nice to have another experience like that,” he said. “I nearly gave up playing a couple of years ago, but I have got my enthusiasm back and I am looking forward to tomorrow.”

He added that, regardless of the result, he expects tomorrow’s game to be a warm-up for the grand final.

“A lot of the lads have been saying that should be York and Keighley in the grand final,” he said. “Whoever performs on the day will go through and get a week off. Hopefully, it will be us.”

With no more than two points separating the two sides in both league encounters, Knights boss James Ratcliffe is also expecting another tight contest.

Asked what could make the difference, he said: “Everybody has to stand up and be counted.

“We’ve got people who have been here before, like Richard Blakeway and Loz Wildbore, who have won play-offs, and hopefully they can take over from (the suspended) David March, whose been cruelly taken away. That experience will help. You need to know how to close a game down and when to speed a game up.”

Keighley have lost influential hooker James Feather for the season, while coach Barry Eaton is suspended from the touchline for abusing an official – a suspension that means he cannot make a playing return to give extra options at dummy-half.

But Ratcliffe warned they were dangerous all over the pitch.

“Keighley have got a threat right across the park,” he said: “They’ve a big, robust pack, two good half-backs and good outside backs. That’s why they finished second. We need to be fully focused.”

Keighley: from Raynor, Gardner, Potter, Williams, Duffy, Presley, Jones, Law, Wray, Shickell, Cartledge, Pursglove, Hughes, Haythornthwaite, Sagar, Nicholson, Rawlins.

Knights: from Ratcliffe, Waterman, Oakes, Haberecht, Clayton, Wildbore, Mitchell, Moore, Schofield, Hesketh, Hughes, Applegarth, Ross, Clough, Kelly, Blakeway, Sullivan, Ambler.

Referee: Ronnie Laughton (Barnsley).

Kick off: 3pm.