Powell will be wary of cup upset, says Aston

Sheffield coach Mark Aston reckons his old pal, Castleford coach, Daryl Powell will be wary of a cup upset this weekend.

Powell masterminded a shock win for Championship side Featherstone against his current employers in 2012, and is now on the other side of the coin – his Tigers side facing Aston’s Sheffield in the fifth round of the Challenge Cup on Sunday.

Aston said: “Daryl plotted the downfall of Castleford a couple of years ago, and so I’m sure they will be mindful of that.

“I’m delighted he has got the job there, being a local lad and playing local players. He’s back in the Super League where he belongs and I’m happy for him – he’s a great friend of mine.

“Obviously Castleford are playing very well, and so we are the underdogs, as you always expect to be when you play a Super League team,” said Aston, who is relishing the chance to pull off a giant-killing act.

“We are really looking forward to it, going to a great ground with plenty of atmosphere. I think the boys will really soak that up and enjoy it, and I know I will.”

The Eagles reached the quarter-finals last year, before eventually going down to London Broncos.

He added: “We got as far as we have done in recent years when we played London last year,” said Aston. “But it was probably one of our worst performances of the season.

“We enjoyed last year, and got a lot of publicity and profile from our run, and then we let ourselves down. We could have won that game, I think we all knew that, so we want to give ourselves another shot this year.

“We will have to be very good because they are on fire and are one of the best teams in Super League. We’ll have to be good, we know that but of course we’ve got a chance. As a coach you set up to win every week, you don’t go out to lose, so we’ll see what we can do.”