VIKINGS should welcome back some of their missing troops when they travel to face an heavyweight Sheffield Eagles side on Sunday afternoon.

Influential half back John Duffy, who has missed the last two games with a shoulder injury, and hamstring victims Toa Kohe-Love and Richard Fletcher have all trained well this week and could be recalled for the trip to Don Valley.

Further good news is on the horizon with longer term casualties Lee Patterson and Steve Bannister coming into contention to play for the first time after playing in the reserves last weekend.

Coach Paul Cullen said: “Lee has only had two 20 minute spells in the reserves – and did very well and is now back in the frame. He is not a million miles off but might just need a bit more work yet to get him up to match speed.

“Steve Bannister went well and had a full 80 minutes and is injury free so there are good signs.

“It gives me great hope that all the pieces that have been assembled for me will fit into place. The jigsaw is not there yet because we have not got those senior players – but what has pleased me in this period is that a lot of those younger players have aimed up when they have played out of position through necessity.”

It is less than a month since Vikings faced the Eagles at Stobart Stadium – but Don Valley’s narrow pitch will make this a different encounter and suit the home side’s strengths.

“It is a narrow field and a short pitch – so it is difficult to get good quality on your wide plays. You can see from the way Sheffield play – they get amongst you in defence and score a lot of tries from kicks.

“There is not a lot of room to work with so we will have to factor that in,” Cullen said.

He pointed the Sheffield pack and a clever kicking game as aspects that they would have to get to grips with if they are to keep their position in second spot in the table.

“In Mitch Stringer and Jack Howieson they have two big units that we will have to physically manhandle and control throughout the game.

“They have a good kicking game which is typical of coach Mark Aston, who was a very good kicker himself,” he said.

Perhaps as a response to the way they allowed Leigh to take the game off them with a late try on Good Friday, but coach Cullen has had the team doing extra training this week to improve their concentration.

“The players did two double days of training on Monday and Tuesday. We are lengthening our sessions and making them more intense.

“That is deliberate because we are trying to improve our concentration levels and one way of doing that is to train harder and longer and see how we are operating skill wise within that.

“That is something we have decided we need to improve on,” Cullen said.