Mellor wants win to fire up survival battle

WIDNES co-captain Joe Mellor wants his team to try to take some momentum into the Qualifiers as the players get ready to fight for their Super League lives.

The Vikings suffered a record 14th consecutive league defeat with the 26-24 home loss to Hull Kingston Rovers last Saturday.

The game left them languishing at the bottom of the table and confirmed a bottom place finish for the second time in two seasons. Not all of the losses on their long run have been terrible performances, with the game against Rovers a case in point.

But Mellor is aware that, like winning, losing can become a habit and although there is nothing on the last two games of the regular season in terms of league position, he is looking for the team to gain some confidence before the big games to come.

He said “Hopefully a win’s coming. It was a close one at the weekend and we were unlucky not to get it then. We are playing better as a team now; it’s just that we really need to get that first win for confidence as much as anything.

“With where we are now, it’s not so much about being desperate for the two points but we need to get our performances right to carry some momentum into the ‘eights’.

“We know we can get wins if we play to our ability, but we’ve got to translate that into action on the field.”

Widnes have been getting some of their injured troops back over the last few weeks and they are hopeful hooker Lloyd White and second row forward Chris Dean will be back for the Qualifiers.

In the meantime, one or two of the Vikings’ up-and-coming youngsters have put their hand up with the likes of fullback Olly Ashall-Bott and winger Owen Buckley showing up well.

Having missed part of the season with injury himself, Mellor has looked sharp in recent weeks and was again one of his side’s best against Hull KR. But ever the team man, he will be a lot happier when the team as a whole starts to perform the way he believes they can.

He added: “I’m playing all right and I’m just trying to put my best foot forward for the team. All you can do is try your best every week and hopefully that’ll be enough.

“I try to go out onto the field and concentrate on my own job. It’s about getting the right team on the pitch at this time of the season.

“It’s going to be a massive lift for us when we get all of our players back.”