Frank words put jobs on the line

Should they lose at the Halton Stadium, the Vikings will be five points adrift with just seven games to play - not an impossible situation, but a fiendishly difficult one for a side with their lack of consistency.

If they win, the gap will be down to a single point, with another match against Wakefield on the horizon in September. "The result has to go our way, otherwise there will be a few lining up in the job queue," Endacott says. "That's the reality of it."

For a match as make-and-break as this, the temptation is strong to recall the accomplished Australian centre, Aaron Moule, after a two-month absence with an ankle injury. "He's going to be rusty if he does play, but his presence on the field would be a boost," Endacott says.

Widnes' main problem this year has not so much been the precise personnel they have put on the field as their chronic inability to sustain their effort. They have got themselves into a cycle where every creditable performance, like the one-point defeat by Warrington two weeks ago, is followed by a dismal display, like the loss at Salford last weekend.

On that basis, they should be due for one of their better games today, but they are up against a Wakefield side who have rebuilt some confidence under the caretaker-coaching of Tony Smith. They made a game of it against St Helens and then beat Bradford by 10 points last Sunday. Admittedly, the Bulls are not the force they were, but to achieve a Super League double over them this season hardly counts as relegation form.

One thing Wakefield have which their rivals at the bottom end of Super League lack is the pace to score breakaway tries. They scored four times from inside their own 20 last week, so Widnes have no excuse for not being aware of that threat.

They have also had the boost this week of David Solomona, whose ball-handling gives them another facet that other sides lack, signing on until the end of the 2008 season, rejecting the overtures of the new Gold Coast club in Australia. It all adds to a new feel-good factor at Trinity and, if they win today, it will be very hard for them to deny Smith the coaching job for which he is on trial.

Elsewhere, the Northern Rail Cup final at Blackpool sees two of the sides hoping to step up into Super League flex their muscles. Castleford are favourites, but they lost for the first time at Rochdale last week and could be vulnerable to a fired-up Hull KR.