McCormack warns of Oldham threat

CHALLENGE CUP FIFTH ROUND
Date: Saturday, 9 May Kick-off: 1500 BST Venue: Darlington Arena, Darlington

Live: Thunder v Oldham on BBC Newcastle

McCormack has reached the quarter-final stage before with Whitehaven

Gateshead boss Steve McCormack is refusing to take the club's Challenge Cup progress for granted in Saturday's fifth-round tie against Oldham.

Thunder welcome the Championship One leaders to Darlington's Arena stadium and McCormack believes they pose a dangerous threat to his side.

He told BBC Newcastle: "Every side at this level of the competition is a good one, we'll treat them with respect.

"It's a game that we're looking forward to but know we'll have to play well."

During his spell on the west coast with Whitehaven, McCormack enjoyed a Challenge Cup run as well as taking the club to two Grand Finals.

And the Wigan-born coach hopes to bring that same level of excitement to Tyneside and lift the interest levels in the sport throughout the region.

You look at what makes good clubs and it's good people, and the club's full of good people

Steve McCormack

"In my opinion the Challenge Cup is the best cup competition in the world in rugby league and being a Wigan lad I went to Wembley with all those fantastic teams," he said.

"I know Wembley's a long way away from where we are now but we've a chance of getting to the quarter-finals and I've experienced that with Whitehaven where we played Warrington on television and it's a very special competition.

"If we do get a result on Saturday the competition could spark some interest in the area and to get there would be a massive achievement for the club."

The former Salford and Widnes coach took over at Gateshead on Tuesday, with former boss Chris Hood stepping down to assistant.

But McCormack has paid tribute to the foundations laid by Hood at the International Stadium and is keen to keep him involved in team activities.

"There's a lot of good already gone on [at Gateshead] certainly over the last couple of seasons and the work that Chris has already done here, there's a good base," he added.

"It's been a very difficult time for Chris this week but he's a massive part of the club, the way he's supported me in the first few days has been brilliant.

"You look at what makes good clubs and it's good people, the club's full of a lot of good people here and the facilities and the playing staff are good.

"I think it's just a matter of tweaking it and making sure things on the field start to improve a little more than they are doing."