Betts: Wakefield pitch a disgrace

Widnes coach Denis Betts watched his side win for the first time on grass in 2015 and blasted the state of Wakefield's pitch at Belle Vue.

Centre Stefan Marsh scored a hat-trick of tries in the Vikings' 30-18 victory over Super League's bottom club, a first success away from their artificial pitch of the Select Security Stadium since last September.

Betts said: "It was a poor, poor game. I'm just glad I didn't have to pay to watch it.

"The pitch is a disgrace. We've got lads in there with rolled ankles.

"It's divoted and rock hard, it's just not a pitch you should be playing Super League games on. It's atrocious.

"It affected us in a couple of ways but, ultimately we were just poor.

"We had some poor performances but managed to do the job. We shut them down and scored more points than they did.

"The only thing we can take out of today is that we've won a game away from home and we're in the (top) eight."

Widnes, who lost skipper Kevin Brown through illness, raced into an 18-0 lead with two tries from Marsh and others from Jack Owens and Rhys Hanbury but missed three other chances and kicked only one conversion to give their hosts hope.

Wakefield, who parted company with coach James Webster in the week and lost skipper Danny Kirmond with concussion inside the first minute, pulled a try back through winger Tom Johnstone before half-time and added others through Matt Ryan and Dean Collis in the second half.

The visitors never looked like losing their grip, however, and hooker Lloyd White added a fifth try for them early in the second half before Marsh completed his hat-trick after 58 minutes.

Although disappointed with the display, Betts took encouragement from his side's ability to win without their inspirational captain in a game he was wary of.

"We needed to win this game and it's another banana skin we managed to step over," Betts said. "The change in the coach and talk in the papers about showing some enthusiasm and desire for the club, those kind of things can have an effect.

"So we were wary of that and there's no atmosphere in the ground. It's a pretty dull place because of what's happening here at the moment."

A 12th consecutive league defeat leaves Wakefield seven points adrift of their nearest rivals but interim coach Stuart Dickens was encouraged by the team's performance and believes they can still avoid relegation.

"I think there is enough quality," Dickens said. "If we can get a bit of quality with the ball then without doubt staying up is definitely an achievable goal."

Dickens is expected to stay in charge for next Sunday's derby with Castleford at the Magic Weekend in Newcastle as Wakefield chairman Michael Carter sifts through a dozen applications for the job vacancy.

"Michael is working really hard to try and get who he feels is the right man in place," Dickens added. "If we can build a bit of momentum, it can hopefully give Michael the time to get the right person.

"We asked for a response from the players in terms of commitment, desire and determination and I thought we got that today.

"I thought that side of the game couldn't be questioned at all today. The things we need to improve on now are probably a little bit of quality with the ball and smartness in decision-making."

Dickens will assess Kirmond in the coming days before making a decision on whether he plays against Castleford but admits he was a big loss against Widnes.

"That was very unfortunate," Dickens said. "We're very light in the middle as it is, we were down to the bare bones in the forwards today.

"Nick Scruton was busted but he played 35 minutes straight through in the second half, which was a massive effort.

"Matty Ryan got sin-binned and in weeks gone by I think that would have been a sign for the white flag to be raised, but the boys dug in and the fact that they didn't concede any more points was credit to their attitude and effort today."