Widnes Vikings coach Francis Cummins has not given up on the club’s survival hopes, despite a fourth straight Qualifiers defeat.
The Vikings put in a gutsy performance but went down 16-6 to Leeds, leaving them on the brink of relegation.
They’ll need at least two victories from their final three games to make the Million Pound Game, though they’re more likely to require three straight wins to make the all or nothing showdown.
Despite that, Cummins is not giving up.
“Obviously I’m frustrated we didn’t get the win,” he said.
“But we never shirked anything, we were in it all the way along, we had opportunities to score and I saw the team that practices every day.
“While I’m frustrated I’m proud of their efforts because that level of effort and commitment hasn’t been there for a while, you train different ways, you change things, you try to spark people, and we found the level of effort today that shows we can do this. I still truly believe we can win our last three games and see what happens then.”
Meanwhile, Cummins was critical of the performance of the officials.
“I can’t afford to pay any fines but there was some strange stuff that went on today, some strange decisions.
“I’ve never seen in my time the linesman come on the field holding his flag in the air and the referee tell him to get off, it’s ridiculous. But the referees didn’t lose us the game, we didn’t score enough points, simple as that.”