Whitehaven will be hoping to add to Rochdale’s early season misery at the Recreation Ground on Sunday.

The Hornets have made a poor start to their Championship campaign with only one win in six games and sit next to bottom.

It’s been a testing start to his new job at Rochdale for ex-Haven coach Carl Forster, who would have wished for an in-form squad on his return to west Cumbria.

A year ago Forster was in charge of Whitehaven when they handed-out a 38-0 Challenge Cup drubbing to the Hornets.

That represented one of the season’s best results of League One against the Championship.

Now it’s Gary Charlton who will be seeking to pull off the Cup shock as he will be in charge of Haven for the fourth round test at the Recreation Ground.

“It makes it a very interesting tie with Fozzy (Carl Forster) coming back to the Recreation Ground with his Rochdale team.

“I know the lads are looking forward to it and pulling off another good Cup win,” said Charlton.

The Haven coach will be wanting a repeat of the first-half performance at West Wales on Sunday when the Cumbrians built-up a 26-6 lead by half-time.

“I couldn’t fault the first-half performance because we did everything we had talked about, and executed it well.

“The fact that we scored some really good long-distance tries was also encouraging.

“But we went away from our game plan in the second-half, which they won 10-4, so that was disappointing,” said Charlton.

Whitehaven are building-up to two very big home games on successive weeks with Hunslet visiting the Recreation Ground on April 7.

The South Leeds side are something of a surprise as leaders in League One, the only side with a 100 per cent record after four successive victories.

Chairman Tommy Todd said: “These are two really tasty games for us. I know Fozzy’s return with Rochdale has created a lot of interest while a home game against league leaders is always one to look forward to.”