Brown and Betts see positives and negatives from derby clash at the Stobart Stadium (From Runcorn and Widnes World)

Brown and Betts see positives and negatives from derby clash at the Stobart Stadium

10:29am Monday 11th February 2013 in Sport

SAINTS boss Nathan Brown and Vikings counterpart Denis Betts both had positives and negatives to draw from Sunday’s clash at the Stobart Stadium.

For Saints the two points was tempered by the loss of Lance Hohaia and Josh Perry with injury and observing an attack that was still a little bit scratchy.

For Vikings their big effort and commitment did not yield a reward after they were hampered by going down to, at one stage, 11 men.

The game was deadlocked at 4-4 on the hour mark until the referee produced a red card for Ben Cross and a yellow for Jon Clarke after a high tackle, followed by a free-for-all.

Brown said: “It is good to get a win and we were far far better than the week before.

"Our commitment was great but we know we have a lot of work to do in our attack going forward. We need to get the defence right and then you can look to grind out wins whilst fixing up your attack.

"The opposition ripped in today and if we'd have shown the same commitment as last week then we would have lost.

"We had to move a few people around during the game as Josh Perry (knee), Lance Hohaia (AC joint) and Jonny Lomax (head knock) came off injured.

“As a result our commitment and effort were good and that gave us a chance.

"We were defensively strong too and we know we have areas to work on. We are trying to change a few things in attack - but if we keep our D good then we will grind out our fair share of wins and progress."

When asked about the incident that gave his side a numerical advantage, Brown added: "There were a lot of players in there so I didn't quite see what happened.

"Benny plays the game physically and hard and sometimes that judgement can err. I thought the ref reffed the game quite well. We got penalties in the first half and Widnes in the second. I thought he did well not to react to the crowd.

"But I was always confident we would win before then. We weren't going so well in attack but our defence had us on top. We had them pinned down at their own line but couldn't get momentum because they got penalties each time. I thought it was flowing our way and you always feel comfortable when you are defending well."

Betts was pleased with the way his side played against some adversity.

"I thought there were two good teams out there," Betts said.

"I thought we had a chance of winning the game.

"It was one of those tough days to be really skilful but I thought we had the better opportunities.

"It was only when we were down to 11 men that they really got some opportunties to score tries and they did.

"I'm really proud of my team. I thought we played better this week than we did last week.

"When it turns into 11 versus 13 it becomes very tough. We defended really well with 11 blokes actually."

Betts had no issue over Cross' dismissal for felling Wellens but added: "There were plenty of other people who got involved.

"If he was going to get the cards out, which he obviously wanted to, it should have been 11 against 11.

"He's a really good referee but sometimes you have a bad one and I thought today he was poor at times."