OWEN COYLE and Tony Mowbray have come face-to-face as players and as managers over the years.

But tonight, there will be no quarter asked or given as the pair prepare to scrap over a place in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

The first meeting between the sides ended 2-2 after Martin Paterson’s last-gasp equaliser forced yet another fixture into an already hectic schedule.

But with a potential date at the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal, assuming they beat Cardiff, the rewards are potentially massive.

And although they may share a cup of tea after the game, the gloves will be off for the 90 minutes at Turf Moor tonight.

He said: “We’ve played against each other when he was at Celtic.

"I was friendly with a few of the lads at Celtic at the time so I got to know him and he just a fantastic man.

“We played pre-season games against Tony’s team because of the friendship we had so we would take a team over to Easter Road.

“I just love the way he goes about playing football. I think it speaks volumes for him about the way he likes to play.

“There’s no doubt that they still like to pass and move that ball and they’re very pleasing on the eye as everyone saw in the Championship last year.

“I just think he’s done a brilliant job at West Brom. In the first year, they just missed out on the play-offs. last year they won the Championship and this year after, which was going to be a difficult start, they’ve picked up and I really believe West Brom will stay in the Premier League.

“As much as you’re friends, friendship goes out of the window during the 90 minutes just because you’re really focused on winning a tie. I learned that at an early age when my two older brothers played against each other.

“Although they were brothers, you would never have thought it seeing them on the pitch.

“I think it’s something you have in your character that you just want to win games of football for your respective team so I think you learn early on that you during a game you’re doing everything you can to win the game.”

But despite winning games against four Premier League teams this season, Coyle laughed off suggestions that his side were the favourites going into tonight’s tie.

He added: “We’re underdogs again. People might think because we’ve had a good run that we’re not, but we are because we’re playing against a quality Premier League team.

“Okay we drew at the Hawthorns but they showed in the last round when they drew at home and then went away to Peterborough and won so we’re going to have to be at our best and if we are then we have a real chance of winning tie.

“People may feel we’re the form team going into this game and there might be merit in that but I can assure you nobody here thinks that. We know we’re going to have to be at our maximum to progress.

“But we’ve shown that we can got to that level and if we do then we’ve got a real chance of moving into the next round.

“For me, it’s the glamour cup competition in world football.

"Anybody who talks about cup competitions globally talks about the FA Cup and you want to be a part of that.

“I loved it as a player at Bolton and I want the same here as a manager.”