JAMES FORD reckons a battering from Kriss Brining in training shows his York City Knights side will be up for tonight’s Challenge Cup tie - and justified his decision to hang up his boots.

The Knights face a banana-skin fourth-round clash against amateurs Featherstone Lions with Ford warning against complacency as his side look to bounce back from their iPro Sport Cup exit to Newcastle.

It’s a particularly sentimental tie for the 32-year-old head coach, who came through the Lions set-up prior to his rise into the professional arena, and, having already given fellow ex-Lions player Ryan Mallinder the armband for the day, he joked he too thought about coming out of retirement for the match - before quickly ruling that out.

“I did consider making myself captain instead,” he said. “But then Kriss Brining battered me in the gym and I just thought it’s a good job I’d retired.

“We were doing technical work then full-on contact stuff. I had questioned one or two people’s approach to contact work (after the Newcastle match) and I got involved in the training - and Kriss showed me a couple more reasons why I retired.

“He got the biggest cheer on the night as well. I was pleased with how training went, with Kriss especially. We want them to be aggressive in contact.

“At times against Newcastle they did not perform to the standards I know they can reach, but we’re not going to over-react.

We have one or two areas where we needed to improve. At Featherstone we expect the team to take another step forward in their development.”

The Knights are overwhelming favourites, but the Lions, who stormed to the National Conference League division three title last year and have begun this term in a similar winning vein, are eyeing a major upset.

Coach Jamie Rooney - the former Super League half-back who played alongside Ford at Featherstone Rovers, where tonight’s game is being staged (8pm) - said: “We are a team who want to get through to the next round, we want to progress up the leagues, we are not content with where we are.

“We are really pleased to get this far, but we’d love to get through to the next round and we are quietly confident we can cause an upset.”

The lower Super League sides enter the cup in round five, and Rooney added: “We’d love to test ourselves against a Super League team.

“It’s going to be a great occasion (tonight) and it would be fantastic if we could get through - it would be something the players would remember forever.”

Jack Iley and Jake Joynt are other players on York’s roster who formerly starred for the Lions, and Rooney believes the strong links between the clubs will give his side extra motivation.

“We’re really looking forward to it - the lads have definitely had one eye on this game,” he said. “We’ve also been training at Rovers’ stadium which has been great. A lot of the York players are from Featherstone so it’s going to be mates playing against each other which is an extra incentive for us.

“I know Fordy well and I’m really pleased for him and his success at York - he’s doing a fantastic job - but obviously I’d love to get one over him.

“It’s a special competition. It has been a massive achievement to get this far and, of course, it’s a cup full of shocks and hopefully we can cause one.”

Super League stars Tom Briscoe, Joe Westerman and Zak Hardaker are among the list of Lions old boys, as is ex-York second-row John Smith - an unsung hero of the 2005 National League Two title-winning side - who is expected at the game.