Dons hope to sign off in style in final home game of season

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Doncaster RLFC boss Richard Horne wants his side to go out on a high in their final home game of the 2024 Betfred Championship campaign against Widnes Vikings at the Eco-Power Stadium on Sunday.

Sunday’s game will be the third meeting of the season with the fourth-placed Vikings, who inflicted a club-record 90-4 home defeat on the Dons back in 2007 during a time of crisis at the club, having won both previous encounter the DCBL Stadium.

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“We were well beaten over there when we played them in the Challenge Cup at the start of the season but if we had played another five minutes in the league game I’m confident that we would have beaten them,” said Horne reflecting on a 16-14 defeat back in May.

“We’ve just got to make sure that we put ourselves in a good position to win the game on Sunday and not be waiting until the back end of the game to maybe try and snatch a win.

The Dons won in impressive fashion at Batley at the weekend. Picture via @Doncaster_RLFCThe Dons won in impressive fashion at Batley at the weekend. Picture via @Doncaster_RLFC
The Dons won in impressive fashion at Batley at the weekend. Picture via @Doncaster_RLFC

“Widnes lost at York, who have hit really good form in recent weeks, at the weekend, but they are a good side and well coached. They work hard, have a good kicking game and they’ve got halves who can control a game really well.

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“But we believe that we’ll be in with a shout if we do the right things as we did in the 38-0 win at Batley at the weekend.

“Only a point separate fourth from seventh and they still have to secure their play-off spot. Unfortunately, we are a couple of results away from challenging for the top six which is disappointing after the win over (second-placed) Toulouse last month. The Whitehaven defeat the week after was a real kick in the teeth.

“It’s our last home game of the season and it would be fantastic to go out with a win against a top-four side. Hopefully we’ll have a good crowd and it would be nice if supporters would bring along a friend as we are a club that is growing and our ambitions next year won’t be the same as this year with the players we are looking to bring in.

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“These are exciting times for us and we aren’t a million miles off achieving the goals we set for ourselves and hopefully we can kick on.

“I think our home form has been fantastic once we came to terms with the division. We probably didn’t grasp the concept of the Championship at the start of the season and were punished by several big teams but since then virtually every time we’ve performed we’ve got the result.

“We’ve come a long way this season and we can only grow now going forward.”