Widnes boss Denis Betts is confident his players have what it takes to overcome their Challenge Cup woe and find the right response against the Huddersfield Giants at the John Smith’s Stadium on Sunday.

The Vikings’ dreams of a final trip to Wembley were shattered by in-form Castleford Tigers, who romped to a 28-6 semi-final success at Leigh Sports Village at the weekend.

Betts admits it was a defeat which hits his players hard.

But he knows a top-quality performance against the Giants would help ease some of that pain.

“The challenge for the players after Sunday is for them to get into another big game and to take away that horrible feeling they’ve got in the pit of their stomachs,” said Betts.

“We’re going to use the as a tool to keep pushing us forward.

“It’s frustrating and there is nobody more frustrated than the players. They’re disappointed in themselves and in what they turned out. We’ll need to regroup and move forward from that.

“Even though the semi-final defeat was such a disappointing one, I know everyone is this squad has improved and there is still that belief in them.

“But you have to get challenges like this out of the way, swallow the horrible medicine and move forward.

“We’ve still got a Super League play-off spot to fight for, and that’s exactly what we’ll do.

“We have to find a positive response against Huddersfield this weekend.”