Castleford v Widnes preview

Castleford and Widnes will both be desperate to get back to winning ways when they meet at the PROBIZ Coliseum on Monday (kick-off 2.05pm).

The Tigers have lost their last three outings, including a disappointing Carnegie Challenge Cup exit at the hands of neighbours Featherstone.

At least the loss to Rovers meant an extra week off, allowing full-back Richard Owen and centre Kirk Dixon the chance to be fit to face the Vikings.

The return of the duo is timely for coach Ian Millward, with Castleford still without talismanic half-back Rangi Chase through suspension.

"They will be great acquisitions for us," said the Tigers boss.

"We've lacked some outside backs and Richie is very important to us, especially with Rangi being out."

Millward saw his side thumped by Warrington last time out, though they had won two of their previous three Stobart Super League fixtures before the daunting trip to the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

"Everybody was down after the Challenge Cup," the Australian admitted.

"It knocked the players around. But the break has probably done us a bit of good, it gave us a chance to work on some facets of our game."

Widnes, meanwhile, have found their return to the top flight a serious struggle - they've registered just two wins in 12 matches and have leaked 562 points.

They will head on their travels looking to put a halt to a five-match losing streak and are boosted by the return of a plethora of players.

Front-row duo Ben Davies, who played seven matches during a loan spell with Castleford last season and John Kite are in the 19-man squad, along with scrum-half Rhys Hanbury, centre Chris Dean and second row Simon Finnigan.

There is, however, no place for Anthony Mullally after the back-row forward rejected a final contract offer from the club during the week.

Like his counterpart, Vikings coach Denis Betts has had an extra week of preparation time with his side knocked out of the cup in the fourth round.

"Training has gone really well over the last couple of weeks and the extended lay-off has given us plenty of time to lick our wounds, assess ourselves, look at our systems and tidy up a couple of areas," he said.

"We're all really looking forward to the game now and the lads are desperate to get back out there on the playing field."

Castleford: Owen, Youngquest, Dixon, Griffin, Orr, Emmitt, Clark, Huby, Ferres, Walker, Jones, Milner, Hudson, Mitchell, Millington, Holmes, Massey, McGoldrick, Thompson.

Widnes: Allen, Cahill, Clarke, Craven, Cross, Dean, Davies, Finnigan, Flynn, Hanbury, Isa, J. Kite, Leuluai, Marsh, Mellor, Phelps, Pickersgill, White, Winterstein.