When Gary Moorby suffered his debut thrashing at the hands of the Sheffield Eagles, Lee Patterson was there. But unlike the majority of the lads who will be running out for revenge on Sunday in the Challenge Cup fourth round, the forward was on the right side of the 60-0 scoreline.

In fact it was Patterson's first run-out for Mark Aston's men in a season that didn't quite work out for the player.

"I think I was the only one who didn't score any points that day," said Patterson, who was to join the Cougars later that season, desperate for first-team rugby.

"It was Gary's first game in charge and I think they were desperately scrambling for players at the last minute and we hammered them.

"But things didn't really work for me there. I found myself out of the first-team but being promised I would get my chance.

"Each week the coach would say that next week I would get my chance but it never happened and I started looking for another club."

His brother's friendship with Jason Ramshaw got him an introduction with Moorby and a move to the Cougars soon materialised.

Unfortunately work commitments meant Patterson, who is a personal trainer, missed out on the Cougars' first revenge win at the back end of last year. So he is desperate to play, and beat, the Eagles on Sunday at the Don Valley to prove a point to his former coach.

"After what happened it would be great to get one over on them," said Patterson, who is hopeful for a place in the side after missing out on last week's narrow defeat at Dewsbury after work commitments had kept him from training.

"I still know a lot of lads there and it's always nice to get one over on your old team, especially when things didn't work out there. Mark is a very good coach and he will

have some tricks up his sleeves, but I would love to beat them."

Patterson is hopeful that Moorby's ploy of playing men against their former clubs works out. "Gary has always been a fan of letting people playing against old teams because he thinks he can get even more out of their game," added Patterson.

"I hope he gives me that chance. This is a massive game for us, we can beat this lot and then we could land a Super League team next time around."

Sheffield are expected to be one of the Cougars' main rivals in this Division Two campaign and a victory this weekend would give them a psychological edge for the league campaign that begins in April.

It could also mean the dream ticket of Super League opposition at Cougar Park in the cup's fifth round.