Smith’s pleased with youngsters

WARRINGTON boss Tony Smith heaped praise on his young side ahead of their home Super League clash with Huddersfield Giants on Easter Monday.

Former Giants coach Smith was delighted with his side after they stepped up in the Cheshire derby to inflict a 19-10 defeat on Widnes.

Smith was missing big names like ex-Huddersfield skipper Kevin Brown and Joe Westerman but threw in rookie Ben Julien, Dec Patton, George King and Joe Philbin and felt they never let him down in a 19-10 away win.

He said: “That was a real gutsy one and I thought we handled the pressure well.

“I’m not only missing a few players, in (Daryl) Clark, Westerman, Brown and (Mike) Cooper, but we ended up losing a couple on the field as well, as Matty Russell and Ryan Atkins left the field and are both out for Monday’s game.

“We are down on troops but the good news story is the young blokes who came in did a good job.

“Philbin was terrific and some of our young forwards did a good job for us. Julien, for him to come in without much game time and play the way he did was really good.

“George King also came in and did a great job.

“They all played their role and did what they had to do today. There were six times that we turned the ball over on first or second tackle and we cant do that - it’s too much.”

Smith was delighted with his players’ heroic goal-line defence.

“Some will say this was an ugly win but to me the defensive side of it was beautiful,” Smith added.

“We conceded a try off our error in the first half and a kick try. The players really dug in for one another.

“I love seeing them cover for one another and not cave in. It shows the spirit of the team. We didn’t have the big names but we got down and dirty.

“It wasn’t a pretty game but we made it hard for Widnes.”

Widnes head coach Denis Betts, who has only witnessed seven wins from the past 32 games, feels he has seen some signs that his team can improve.

He said: “Overall it’s a win and loss game and I’ve seen some things to say that we’ve got some wins in us.

“Confidence wise, you live off it and you die in fear. We are dying in fear at the moment. (In the) second half we showed some positives, though.”

Betts was asked about an incident involving contact with his skipper Chris Houston and referee Phil Betham.

Houston was sprinting to get to Stefan Ratchford, who had broke the Vikings’ line, but he clattered the official, sending him sprawling to the floor.

Betts said: “I couldn’t really see. I was watching the ball.

“Afterwards I saw Phil on the floor and I thought ‘oh s***’. Depending on the (RFL’s) interpretation, they might think Chris might have slowed down but where does the referee go? We’ll see what happens.”

The Vikings boss went on to question some decisions he claimed had had an impact on the game.

He said: “It was a messy game. I was disappointed with a few calls but we are not getting the rub of the green.”