Francis Cummins: We have got to have hope

Widnes interim coach Francis Cummins insists the club has got to remain hopeful of avoiding relegation, despite the chances being slim.

The Vikings won for the first time since April 21 as they beat Halifax 26-12 at the Halton Stadium on Saturday.

Widnes are currently seventh in The Qualifiers table and face tough trips to Toronto Wolfpack and Hull Kingston Rovers in the final two games of the competition.

Even though it is looking unlikely that the Vikings will make the Million Pound Game, Cummins insists the club should remain hopeful.

He explained: “Until you can’t do it, you have got to have hope.

“I think we were in a position to win last week against Leeds and we probably should have done but our goal now has to be to win the last few games and see where that takes us.”

Cummins said he was pleased to get the win over Halifax, which was their first victory in 18 games.

He added: “It has been a long time coming and I’m not sure that some of the players knew all of the words but they made a hell of a lot of noise and that made it up for it but it has been a while.

“Our commitment to defence was good, it probably wasn’t as good as last week but Lloyd (White) was aggressive when running with the ball.

“I thought our forwards were good and Joe Mellor looked threatening at full-back and it just shows the amount of times he gets hit around the head that he is actually testing defences. We can be better and I expect us to be better.”

Cummins also hinted that other clubs have been speaking to his players about contracts for next season.

He said: “The mood is good, despite what is going on around the club.

“There are vultures flying around and some of them haven’t got the decency to stay in the air.

“There are vultures flying around and while it is a difficult time to be in, there will be people talking to our players and that is not a good place to be, but the players have shown that they are committed and that is where we find ourselves.”