POISED for their next charge to the Championship, Whitehaven RLFC are looking to put their defeat to Widnes Vikings behind them.

There were shades of brilliance from Haven in the Challenge Cup defeat this past weekend, but Widnes kicked-on in the second half taking advantage of any scoring opportunity that presented itself.

But Haven will now turn attentions to Dewsbury Rams, who they defeated a matter of weeks ago, when they get their Championship season underway.

Head coach Gary Charlton said: “It gives us a boost knowing that we have beaten them, especially knowing that we were down to 12 men. But it’s a different game now. We’re going down to Dewsbury, they’re tough on their home field, they’re hard to beat.

“It gives us a bit of confidence but we’ve still got to do everything right.”

The game takes place on Saturday from 7.30pm and can be streamed via the OuRLeague app.

Haven have bolstered their squad with new Super League calibre talent in the past two weeks – former Leigh Centurion Andy Thornley and former London Broncos full back Oscar Thomas. Charlton said: “We brought Andy on board. He’s a Championship type player. He hasn’t played in 15 months, but everybody’s in the same boat, you don’t lose that skill.”

Charlton added that Thornley has the right attitude and would be an asset to the side.

Speaking of Thomas, he said: “We haven’t seen the best of Oscar because he’s carrying an injury at the minute.”

Haven bosses have been impressed with the Londoner in training. He is on trial with potential to become a mainstay if he performs well.

Charlton said: “You can see he has something in training, the things he tries on-field are different to what we’ve got.”