WIDNES VIKINGS coach Allan Coleman wants to reward his team’s faithful fans by giving them a good Friday feeling.
There’s a full round of Bank Holiday Championship matches at the start of the Easter break, with Widnes hosting Oldham.
Coleman, fresh from signing a contract extension to at least 2027, would like to see the turnstiles clicking for the meeting of the old rivals, and reckons he and his side owe their supporters.
That’s after the disappointment of a 39-6 1895 Cup quarter-final defeat at York, which ended hopes of a Wembley appearance for another year.
Widnes had given neighbours Warrington a test in the fourth round of the Challenge Cup, a competition the club reached the final of seven times between 1975 and 1984.
Warrington finally emerged 26-16 winners in front of 7,011 at the DCBL Stadium.
However at York, Widnes were 16-0 down after a quarter of an hour, and even though winger Ryan Ince pulled back a try converted by Tom Gilmore, the hosts regained control of the contest with a score just before the break.
And Coleman admitted: “We just didn’t turn up, and that’s not like us.
“We build our approach on being that team who compete in every match in every competition, whoever we are playing.
“That didn’t happen at York, and it was such a disappointment. We don’t want to lose any match, and it’s a competition we really wanted to progress in.
“We were terrible in the opening stages, and even though we got back into it, we let them score on half-time, and that really dented us.
“Having prepared well, we were confident and the lads looked like they were up for the challenge.
“But the performance we wanted didn’t materialise and I’ll take the blame.
“Our fans travelled in numbers, and it’s upsetting we didn’t show up for them. Now we have to make sure we are firing against Oldham on Good Friday.”