WARRINGTON Wolves begin their 1998 Silk Cut Challenge Cup campaign with a fourth round trip to Wakefield Trinity.

And although the Belle Vue club are at Division One level Warrington's assistant coach Paul Cullen is wary.

He says: "Wakefield are a very proud Yorkshire side with great tradition.

"Although they have being doing it tough for a number of years I can always remember it being a difficult game at Wakefield.

"At the weekend they beat amateurs BRK 44-6 in the third round and this tells me that someone at Wakefield is doing things right.

"They lost some edge last season when Mike Ford and Brad Davis moved over to Castleford.

"But in the likes of pack man Sony Whakarau they have a tough, industrious type who has been around the circuit and knows the business well. I predict a tough test."

Warrington prop Gary Chambers is quite happy with the draw though, specially after avoiding one of the Super League big guns.

Chambers said: "I would have rather been drawn at home but you can't have everything.

"It is better than having drawn a Super League club because we still need time to gel and this should be the type of game that will help us to do that.

"It showed against Salford in the friendly we had. It took us a while to get going in the first half. With 11 new players it is a matter of learning to read the play of the players around you. We're almost starting from scratch.

"But there's no doubt we should be capable of beating teams like Wakefield."

Chambers is looking forward to the new season.

He says: "We're going to be a workman-like side, nothing fancy. I think we'll be like Salford last year and pull off a few surprises, beat some big names and gain a good reputation."

Warrington's trip to Wakefield is expected to be on Sunday, February 15. The Wolves may have another friendly this weekend as part of their preparations for the new season - check Friday's GUARDIAN for confirmation.

The ties of the fourth round are the Leeds Rhinos versus Castleford Tigers clash and Halifax Blue Sox against Huddersfield Giants. These two games are expected to take the two BBC Television slots on February 14 and 15.

Draw: Egremont v Workington, Barrow v Widnes, Lancashire Lynx v Dewsbury, Halifax v Huddersfield, Leeds v Castleford, Batley v London, Leigh v Sheffield, Wakefield v Warrington, Featherstone Lions v Hull Kingston Rovers, Ellenborough v Hunslet, Rochdale v Bradford, Swinton v York, Ovenden v Salford, Whitehaven v Hull Sharks, Keighley v Wigan, Featherstone Rovers v St. Helens.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.