WIDNES VIKINGS coach Allan Coleman was thankful for a league bye round as he starts the build-up to Sunday’s 1895 Cup quarter-final clash at York.
The tie at the LNER Community Stadium comes before a home meeting with Barrow on Sunday, April 13, when his side will seek a fourth win in five Championship matches this year.
That’s after Widnes marked former Swinton chief Coleman’s 100th match as a head coach by winning 26-22 at Doncaster.
It came after the 26-16 Challenge Cup fourth-round home defeat by Warrington, and featured teenage Wolves dual-registration fullback Cai Taylor-Wray – who had played against Widnes the week before.
Of the five Championship sides in Challenge Cup action, only Widnes and Oldham, against London Broncos, followed up with victories.
“There’s no doubt playing those big cup-ties has an impact, both physically and mentally,” said Coleman.
“You are taking on full-time teams with powerful and fit players, so inevitably get bashed around a bit, and there’s the emotion of the occasion and playing in front of a bigger crowd than normal.
“We didn’t have enough fit bodies to train on the Tuesday after the cup-tie, and we only had a limited session on the Thursday.
“And we weren’t able to play either (winger) Mike Butt or (second rower) Ryan Lannon against Doncaster, on top of existing absent players.”
The Dons were 12-10 up at break, and Coleman explained: “Even though we were losing, it wasn’t too unhappy, because they’d had a lot of possession without getting too many points.
“I thought we’d grown into the game by that stage, and challenged the lads to flip it on its head and put them under some pressure in the second half, and I was delighted with how they did that.”
Coleman hopes to have centre Joe Edge (groin) and forward Brett Bailey (foot) in contention to face York.
Hooker Jordan Johnstone has returned to training after a back problem.
