Michael Ellison has admitted Widnes have been left to rue too many nearly moments this season but won’t give up on the playoffs.
The Whites are five points away from the playoffs but have found themselves in and around the conversation in recent weeks. However, narrow defeats against City of Liverpool and Stalybridge Celtic have been symptomatic of the near-misses for the Halton club.
While Ellison’s side aren’t completely out of the race for the playoffs, they have an outside chance. This weekend, Widnes take on Hanley Town before hosting Vauxhall Motors and a six-point swing could catapult them back into the frame.
“It’s been similar to most of the season, we’ve been in every game, City of Liverpool was a big game – Elliot Morris was the difference,” he told Off The Park.
“We had three big chances in the game and if we take one of them, it could be a different story. It was nice to bounce back against Trafford but then Stalybridge was probably our season in a nutshell.
“I thought we were the better side, despite what they were saying, but for moments and some bad decisions, we score three goals and should be winning the game but we don’t.
“Every time we have that chance to kick on, we don’t and fall a little bit short. Moments haven’t gone for us or we haven’t made the right decision, it’s something we’ll need to improve on next season but it’s so near and so far.”
Ellison incentivised his players to set up a grandstand Northern Premier League finish, while highlighting the possibility of plunging down the table with a poor run of results. But he says they’re not giving up, adding: “If we would’ve won on Saturday, it would’ve been two points off with six games to go, we’re not and it’s five points with six to go but we’re certainly not giving up.
“We’ve had opportunities and we’ve just not been able to take them, it’s an outside, we’ll have a big say in it because of who we play in the run-in.
“We won’t down tools, we want to finish as high as we can – the saving grace is last year we went into the Easter Bank Holiday needing to win to stay in the division, now it’s just how high the lads want to finish.
“We could lose our last six and finish poorly, we don’t want that. The lads were down on Tuesday but there’s still a lot of twists and turns, it’s an improvement on last season, we’ll take stock at the end of the season – our focus is winning on Saturday.
“Leagues, playoffs and places are won and lost during this weekend, if you can get six points you put yourself in a good position but playing Saturday and Monday it’s tough, it’s ludicrous, but we’ve got two tough games.
“We have to be at our best and if we can get six points then we’ll go into the game against Kidsgrove with confidence and I think that’s what you need, a couple of wins and momentum and who knows.”
