Betts eyes top four spot

Correspondent

Widnes coach Denis Betts says his team are pushing for a spot in the top four as the business end of the season approaches.

The Vikings currently sit in sixth spot on 18 points, four behind fifth-placed St Helens and eight behind fourth-placed Catalans.

“We’ve always been striking towards the top five, six teams and being in that position we want to look at ourselves as a team that sits in that place of the table,” Betts said.

“We want to be seen as a side that finishes or looks to be a top six side or that can also push into the top four for the end of season.

“It’s getting tougher at this moment in time because the top four teams have pulled away a bit but we can’t take it in isolation where you just do enough to get to the eight and then see what happens.

“Wev’e got to take 20 points when you’re in this competition now you don’t want to lose your points like you do going up into the qualifiers. You keep your points so youve got to pick them up when you can.

“They’re going to be vital if you want to aim for that four. We’re quite a way off Catalans at the moment… we’ve got to do as much as we can over these next two or three weeks to get ourselves closer.

“You can spend a lot of time looking at that table at times thinking well if we do that and do this, ultimately we’ve got to take care of our own business and we’ve got to do what we did over the weekend and learn to win.”

Widnes take on local rivals St Helens tomorrow. A result is vital for the Vikings if they are to climb the table.

“I think we know Saints’ strength, we know they’ve got a lot of good players, they’re committed, they work hard for each other.

“You can see that character coming through from their coaching team and what they see on the field and what the club means to the people behind the scenes.

“They’ve had a tough year and they’re fighting for that top four spot.

“There’s 10 games to go, 20 points on offer and they believe they’ve got the quality to be able to push hard and get into that four and live up to the expectations of their supporters and of themselves to get into that position.

“We’re also in that position where were a couple of wins away from them but we’ve got 20 points to play for and if we push hard and we get on a run, who knows what could happen.”