Widnes Vikings v Wakefield Trinity: Wildcats take control of their own destiny

QUALIFICATION for the Super-8s is in Wakefield Trinity Wildcats' own hands, according to coach Chris Chester.
Chris Chester.Chris Chester.
Chris Chester.

Wakefield were bottom of Super League when Chester, the former Hull KR coach, took charge before Easter, but have climbed to eighth place following a run of four victories in their last five league games.

Their winning sequence ended at home to Hull five days ago, but Salford Red Devils’ six-point deduction, for previous breaches of the salary cap, has lifted Chester’s men one place up the ladder.

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Super League’s top eight after 23 league rounds will play off for places in the competition semi-finals, with the bottom four facing the Championship’s leading quartet in a relegation/promotion battle.

“With Salford having six points deducted we are in eighth spot and it is ours to lose now,” Chester said ahead of tonight’s visit to sixth-placed Widnes Vikings.

“We want to push on and start looking up, instead of looking down and we have got a good opportunity to get another two points.

“We just need to be better in certain areas than we were last week and I am looking for a response.

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“It is going to be a tough, physical game and one we are really looking forward to.”

Widnes, whose star stand-off Kevin Brown is ruled out due to an ankle injury, were top of the table earlier in the season, but are on a five-game losing run in Super League.

That has coincided with Wakefield’s improvement and Chester feels his team could exploit a loss of confidence in Widnes’s ranks.

He said: “They haven’t played particularly well the last few weeks. They got blown off the park last week against Warrington and Denis (Betts, Widnes’s coach) has come out in the press saying they are low on confidence at the minute.

“We are a team that’s high on confidence.

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“We just have to make sure we are better with the ball than we were last week.”

Richard Owen, Craig Hall, Stuart Howarth and Chris Annakin are hoping for a call-up into Wakefield’s side tonight, but Reece Lyne (hamstring) and Jon Molloy (ankle) drop out after being injured last week.