Perry Whiteley: York’s Summer Bash performance can be forgotten with Widnes win

James Messenger

York City Knights winger Perry Whiteley believes their disappointing Championship Summer Bash performance can be all-but forgotten with a win over Widnes this weekend.

James Ford’s side suffered a disappointing defeat at the hands of Featherstone, with Dane Chisholm starring as Rovers picked up an eight-try victory at Bloomfield Road.

Whiteley was one of only two try-scorers for York, and this weekend they have the chance to bounce back and avenge their Challenge Cup Fifth Round defeat away at Keiron Purtill’s side.

The Vikings also suffered defeat at the Bash against Leigh, meaning they have now lost four of their last five in league and cup competition.

Although they largely had a team largely consisting of fringe players for their cup clash, Whiteley insists they will go to the Select Security Stadium looking to make amends, while also attempting to fend off the four sides looking to displace them in the Championship top five.

Speaking to the York Press, the 25-year-old said: “Knowing us, we just need to regroup and have good preparation in training, fix up one or two things and go there and put in a good performance.

“This league is tough but we know if we turn up and put in a performance we can compete with anyone. Against Featherstone we just weren’t good enough and the scoreline showed that.

“We’ve got some hard games coming up but the frustrating thing is we know we’re more than capable of turning good teams over, like Widnes as we’ve shown.

“The good thing is we’ve got this week to rectify that [performance against Featherstone]. We just need to regroup and have good preparation. Hopefully we can turn it all round and last week will all be forgotten.”