The Whites fell to a heavy 5-1 defeat against last season's beaten Step 3 super play-off finalists, with Lewis Buckley grabbing what proved to be a consolation for the home side.

Speaking after the game, the Widnes co-boss spoke of his admiration for Paul Carden's Yellows, and challenged his players to try and emulate their opponents on the night.

"It's never nice to be on the end of a 5-1 scoreline, no matter what game it's in," Akrigg admitted.

"Paul has put a mixture of youth and experience together and what we've seen there is a side that'll certainly challenge in the league above.

"I hope we can learn from it, and there's still things to work on moving forward from our point-of-view.

"I don't think our ball retention has been particularly good enough in the past three games, and you can see how quickly Warrington look to win the ball back, and that there's an enormous desire to do so.

"I think we have to get to that level if we want to push towards the top of the table, but that's what pre-season is all about - working on things and applying it on the pitch."

Widnes now face a run of three games in a week with five pre-season friendlies left to play, and Akrigg believes that there are still places up for grabs heading into the new season.

"We're at this stage of pre-season with a 23 or 24-man squad," Akrigg said.

"We'll have to cut that number down. Football's a cut-throat business and that's the nature of it.

"It's up to the lads to get themselves a shirt or a place in the squad. They need to play well enough to take the decision out of myself and Kev's (Towey) hands.

"But that comes down to what the lads produce in the next few friendlies."