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Akrigg Happy to Progress in Liverpool Senior Cup

Akrigg Happy to Progress in Liverpool Senior Cup

Callum Chadwick20 Feb 2019 - 00:00
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Steve Akrigg offers his reaction to Widnes' 3-2 win over Everton

Steve Akrigg was pleased with his side's performance as Widnes progressed to the semi-finals of the Liverpool Senior Cup with a 3-2 win over Everton.

George Lomax netted twice on the night as Widnes joined Prescot Cables, Rylands and Southport in the last-four of the competition.

Widnes had led 3-0 early in the second half but a Rhys Hughes penalty and a Kameron Stanley goal set up a tense finish but the Whites held on for victory.

Speaking after the game, Akrigg spoke of his happiness to progress but admits that he was disappointed that his side allowed Everton back into the game too easily.

"Obviously I'm happy to advance to the next round but I think at 3-0, we've let them back into the game," Akrigg said.

"I thought that we started the second half very well and had a five-to-ten minute spell where we went 3-0 up and probably could have put the game to bed.

"But then we just seemed to coast and allowed Everton back into it by conceding two sloppy goals. We switched off for 10-15 minutes and no offence to their lads but I feel that we would have been punished had this been an Evo-Stik League game.

"We wanted to keep the clean sheet and be ruthless going forward but I just felt that we dropped down a gear and allowed them back into the game. It was too easy from our point-of-view.

"But it's important to take away the positives and getting a result was really important after losing three straight games coming into tonight."

Akrigg is eager for his side to build on the positives from tonight's cup-tie, starting with the Evo-Stik West meeting with Leek Town on Saturday.

He said, "There's elements of tonight's game that we need to take into Saturday's game against Leek.

"We created some really good chances early on from a couple corners and then George has scored two really good goals. The build-up to our third goal was decent with a some one-twos and I thought at that point that George Webster really started to control the game with short, easy passes.

"It's important that we're at our very best on Saturday in order to get a result. If we continue to play the way we did early in the second half, we'll have something to build on where we can stay in games and pick up points."

Akrigg highlighted Lomax's contribution, and is pleased to see the striker enjoying a decent run of form in front of goal.

"I'm delighted with his performance today. He's scored two and nearly got himself a hat-trick from the halfway line," Akrigg said.

"Had that one gone in, it probably would have been one of the best hat-tricks I'd seen.

"He's been superb as of late and scoring goals which is obviously pleasing."

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