Old heads could return for Salford clash (From Runcorn and Widnes World)

Old heads could return for Salford clash

8:56am Thursday 16th February 2012 in Vikings news By Mike Critchley

VIKINGS may be bolstered by the return of some of the club’s old heads for Sunday’s clash with Salford.

Leaders Jon Clarke and Shaun Briscoe, as well as half back Anthony Watts - who all sat out last weekend’s mauling by Huddersfield – could be back to face the City Reds.

Their experience will be vital as Vikings will need to regroup to tackle a Salford side that had St Helens rocking for the first half last weekend before eventually succumbing.

Coach Denis Betts said: “We are running against another side that has very experienced players in their half backs in Matty Smith and Daniel Holdsworth. They are seasoned pros who have played in thas position for their club for a few years now .

“Outside that Gibson had a fine game at Saints at the weekend and Jodie Broughton and Danny Williams have plenty of pace.

“So where we got hurt at the weekend by Huddersfield – we face a similar challenge with Salford.

“They are strong and dynamic so we know we have got a week of work ahead of us, but we are going to be in this position every week of running through what the opposition can do.”

However after a disappointing start to the first Super League campaign in seven years Betts said the primary focus is on “themselves”.

The 66-6 hammering against a Huddersfield side that is running hot at the moment has been digested by the players and staff this week, with Betts describing the players as being “disappointed, embarrassed and a little bit embarrassed with themselves”.

“We can’t get away from the fact that the most important thing is about us at the moment and building our confidence and building our systems defensively.

“The priorities will come back to our fundamentals and looking back to Sunday we were very poor at times,” said the Vikings boss.

Defeats such as this – as much as they are tough to take – should not come as any major surprise given the haste in which the side has been assembled and knitted together.

“We had a good meeting on Monday and put out there about personal performance and team performance how they link into each other,” said Betts.

“We knew there would be some tough days – there were some individuals who went to sleep but that might be just the tempo and the level that we played at.

“We also run into a Huddersfield side that always starts the year in a good frame of mind, with confidence from winning at Wigan.

“They played the game so quick it was hard to slow them down.”

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