WITH a first Middle 8s win secured, Denis Betts wants to see more of a swagger from his Widnes Vikings players as they welcome Featherstone Rovers to the Halton Stadium on Sunday, kick off 3pm.

Confidence is in the air against Championship opposition for a second successive week now that the weight of returning to winning ways is off along with having a healthy squad available again.

Alex Gerrard, after serving a two-match suspension, as well as Danny Walker and Greg Burke are all putting pressure on the players who have featured over the past two weeks - the kind of stability Widnes have not enjoyed all season.

“We’ll hope for a little more arrogance in ourselves this Sunday,” said Betts, who said five wins will secure Vikings one of the automatic top three places for Super League 2018 status.

“I know it’s a strange word to throw out there, but we just need to be a little bit more cockier because we’re a really good Super League side.

“We’ve got to put Championship sides we’re facing in an uncomfortable place by high completion rates and kicking the ball well - all the little things you’d expect to do in a Super League game you’ve got to do really well against Championship sides.

“Energy comes from opportunities. If you give them opportunities and you’re a little bit off defensively bcause you think you’re playing against a side that’s not full time, that’s when you get burned.

“The driver of those is attitude.”

With ex-Vikings players Anthony Thackeray and Sam Brooks among the ranks of a squad now coached by John Duffy, Featherstone head to town on the back of a draw at London Broncos and loss at home to Leigh Centurions.

Betts said: “They’re a really solid Championship side and pumping above their weight because they’ve got nothing to prove.

“We’ve got to be fearless in our approach and play with the attitude we want to play with and we’ll come away with a good win.”

Widnes co-captain Joe Mellor, a scorer on his 150th appearance for Widnes in the weekend’s win at Halifax, was pleased with the result of that outing and is looking forward to facing Fev.

“Our first half was very good, but we need to do a little work to improve the second-half performances. Overall though, it was a solid result,” he said.

“The result gives us confidence. It was a win that we needed, we got it, and now we’ve got to keep moving forward.”

Teammate Chris Dean, expected back from injury later this month along with Aaron Heremaia, paid tribute to Mellor in reaching the 150 appearances milestone.

“He’s a consistent performer,” said Dean.

“Joe has been one of our better players the entire time he’s been here.

“No doubt he’ll have another 150 games, or maybe more, in his career to come.”