Widnes Vikings coach Denis Betts admits the good work his side produced at the start of this season has been wasted ahead of their introduction to the 2016 Challenge Cup.
The Vikings travel to Rochdale on Sunday afternoon looking to advance to the last 16, and avoid a similar fate to Hull KR, who were dumped out on Saturday afternoon at the hands of part-time opposition in Oldham.
And Betts concedes that their recent run has been a “barren period”, and insists they’ll be treating the League 1 side with complete and utter respect.
“It’s been a pretty barren period for us,” Betts said. A good start gave us a foothold in the table but we’re sort of back in the mix, so the work we did at the beginning of the year has been wasted.
“Every single game to us is important and we treat everyone with the same amount of detail and respect. We’ve done a bit of work on Rochdale and they’re a pretty confident group of players at the moment.
“In the last couple of years we’ve played Keighley and Batley in the cup and they’ve both been very tough games and we’re expecting another one.”
Betts has named a strong squad for the game, with the likes of Corey Thompson, Kevin Brown and Joe Mellor all included.
