Sheens is keeping the faith

HULL KR coach Tim Sheens insisted he won’t worry about results elsewhere after Danny Tickle kept the Robins’ remote top-eight hopes alive.

Tickle (above) scored a try and kicked four goals in a nervy victory that just about gives them a chance of avoiding the Qualifiers relegation scrap.

Sheens’ men need to win their final two games against Warrington and Hull FC and hope several results elsewhere go their way.

Sheens said: “As a coach you can’t help but have a look, but we’ve known it’s been out of our control for weeks now.

“Our attitude is to play well until the break-off and go from there – we don’t want to get beaten up and lose momentum.

“Whether we’ll be in the middle eights (Qualifiers) or the Super Eights will be determined by the next two games.”

Rovers led 8-2 in a tight first half with James Donaldson scoring the only try and Tickle spending 10 minutes in the sin bin for a professional foul.

But the game opened up after the restart, with Tickle crashing over before Widnes levelled through Olly Ashall-bott and Danny Craven.

Adam Quinlan and Owen Buckley traded tries, before Quinlan looked to have created the winning score for Liam Salter.

Buckley’s second could have set up a nervous finale, only for Charly Runciman to drop the ensuing kick-off.

Vikings caretaker coach Francis Cummins said: “It’s not about desire, effort or even ability for us.

“At the moment we’re hurting ourselves a lot more than the opposition do. You can see the tension in the players. They need to calm down.”

Cummins also admitted his frustration at Hull KR players going down with apparent injuries through the game.

He said: “Danny Tickle went down right in front of the ref like a sniper had shot him. Everyone was laughing and the ref told them to kick for touch.

“It was a stinking hot day but we can’t be having that.”

Sheens retorted: “It’s been done to us all year, and there were guys genuinely cramping.”

Tries: Ashall, Craven, Buckley (2). Goals: Inu (4).

Tries: Donadlson, Tickle, Quinlan, Salter. Goals: Atkin, Tickle (4).