Cunningham expecting close encounter with Widnes

St Helens coach Keiron Cunningham has praised Widnes ahead of the Vikings trip to Langtree Park this Friday.

Saints take on Widnes on their home turf on Friday evening. The Vikings are coming off a one-point win over Leeds.

“Widnes have been playing some really really good stuff and they should have won the game against Wigan about three weeks ago,” Cunningham said.

“I watched that game and they should have won and the game against Warrington.

“You know they probably started not that great but if you look at the way they’ve won out of the last two games they’ve played against Warrington and came home really strong and they get behind against Leeds and they came home really strong so that tells me theres belief about the team.

“They’ve got a lot of pride with what they’re doing with each other and theyre working exceptionally hard for the coach so it’s going be a tough game, it always is against Widnes.”

Cunningham is predicting the derby to be a close match.

“They’re very close games, close scoring affairs, and I can’t see it being any different,” he said.

“But we’re not a bad side ourselves, we’re playing at home and we’re coming off the back of a two game winning streak and theyve got their chests pushed out at the minute and they’re enjoying doing what they’re doing.

“We know every weeks’ a grand final for us now, we’ve got big expectations for this year and those expectations don’t die so we’ve got to keep working hard.”