Featherstone are a threat - Hood

Iestyn Harris was a summer signing for Featherstone

Gateshead coach Chris Hood believes Friday night's opponents Featherstone remain a force in the Championship regardless of their indifferent form.

Rovers signed stars such as Iestyn Harris in pre-season, but struggled in the Northern Rail Cup and lost heavily to Whitehaven at home in the league.

"They've got some wonderful players, players with bags of experience," he told BBC Radio Newcastle.

"They're going to click, lets hope it is on Monday, not Friday against us."

Both clubs enjoyed progress in the Challenge Cup, with Rovers seeing off amateur outfit Wath Brow and Thunder beating Championship rivals Doncaster.

However, Hood says that his squad will be his concern and that it does not matter what Rovers do in the lead up to the match.

"We're going into the game on the back of a good win, we feel as if we can get all three points on Friday, we can progress in this division," he added.

"We focused on ourselves and not on Doncaster last weekend and it was a bit of a winning formula, so we'll do exactly the same this week."