FRIDAY night was a proud moment for everyone associated with Huddersfield Giants.

As head coach I took a lot of pride in the performance we produced to beat Widnes 38-6 and I obviously took a lot of pride in seeing us at the top of Super League.

It may be early in the season, but there aren't that many players who can say they were in a squad that went top of Super League.

This Huddersfield Giants squad can.

I see this as a reward not only for their display on the night, but for all the hard work they have put in on the training field between the start of pre-season and now. Long may that continue.

And after a performance like last Friday's it would normally be wrong of me to single out any particular individuals for the way they played.

But on this occasion I intend to break that rule and single out two players deserving of special mention.

Those two are Philip Joseph and Paul Smith.

Paul March and Stanley Gene may have hogged the headlines for their starring roles, and quite right too.

Yet I took as much pride out of Phil and Paul's performance as I did out of that produced by my in-form half-backs.

Both of them really have come a very long way in such a short space of time.

Let's take Phil, for example.

Last season he was nowhere near ready for the first team, and at the start of pre-season this time around he had a bumpy ride as a full-time member of the first-team squad.

It meant I had to set the record straight to him on a couple of things, most notably the standards I expected from him.

Since then, he's got his head down and worked his socks off, and it's through his own hard work and endeavours that he has now reached his initial goal of playing Super League for his hometown club.

His performance against Widnes shows that there are exciting times ahead of him if he continues to keep working hard.

In that match he helped create Stanley Gene's opening try and made several clean breaks from dummy half.

Nerves were clearly apparent early on, although I thought the players around him contributed to some of the errors in which he was involved.

This was due to the fact that the players were not used to working alongside him, and also because his call-up had been so late as a result of the back injury suffered by Darren Turner.

Furthermore, this was only the second time Phil had played at hooker, but I already firmly believe this is where his future lies.

Now turning to Paul.

I thought he was absolutely tremendous when he came off the substitutes' bench.

By his own admission he's said he initially struggled with the pace in Super League compared with that in the National League.

So to acquit himself as well as he did in his first game of Super League and in front of the Sky TV cameras was fantastic and, just like with Phil, it bodes well for the future.

He made a couple of half-breaks and got his nose through the line, and defensively he was solid.

I'm sure he will have taken a lot of confidence from this one performance and I'm now looking for him to kick on.

For me, the performance of these two young, exciting players were two of the highlights in what was a tremendous night for the club.

And I just now hope that's reflected by the numbers that turn out to watch our vital Challenge Cup-tie with Doncaster on Sunday.

It's a magnificent gesture of chairman Ken Davy to charge adults just £10 if they get their tickets in advance, and to make it quid-a-kid again.

There's been a healthy flow of fans coming to the stadium to buy them, and the more the merrier.

For all the time, money and effort Ken puts in to this club, this is the time to show your support.