Widnes Vikings coach Denis Betts said his side’s play-off defeat to Warrington Wolves last week was a “tough one to take”.
The Vikings led 18-0 at one stage in the first half and 19-6 at half-time but failed to add to their tally in the second half.
Betts said: “It was a performance high on effort and energy we would just liked to have had that closure.
“We let them in the door just before half-time with an error which we were unable to defend and they scored in the corner. That gave them a lift and they came out in the second half and performed really well.
“We spoke in the week about these kind of games when it’s knockout rugby league and everyone has to play well which we did in the first half but just had a couple drop off in the second half.
“The boys are massively disappointed, they worked hard for each other and hard enough to get the result and it’s a tough one to take.”
There were plenty of positives to take from the clash however, despite his side making ‘uncharacteristic errors’, Betts claimed.
He added: “We came up with some uncharacteristic errors, the occasion probably just got to them and sometimes when you get ahead you stop thinking about winning and start worrying about losing which is something we can talk about as a group.
“Kevin Brown was sensational again, Paddy Flynn got two good tries and worked really hard, I thought our pack in that first stint did well and Jon Clarke was instrumental in that in his last ever game of Rugby League.
“As I said, it was tough to take but we’ll come back from this as a stronger group. There’s a real belief in this side and they’ll be better for the experience.”
