WARRINGTON Wolves’ injury worries have eased but boss Tony Smith insists it is ‘do or die’ time heading into a ‘derby’ play-off with Widnes Vikings.

Chris Bridge, Ben Harrison and James Laithwaite suffered injuries in the defeat to Wigan Warriors last Thursday, but Smith is confident all three will be fit for Saturday’s clash.

However, Wolves will be without joint-skipper Ben Westwood, pulled calf, and the suspended Paul Wood at The Halliwell Jones Stadium.

“Because we’ve had a particularly long turnaround between Thursday and Saturday games, it’s given the boys that got replaced at Wigan a chance to recover, so we’re in pretty good shape,” said Smith.

“Paul Wood got charged with a Grade B offence which would carry a weighting of two matches, how - ever he’s got an early bargain plea that he took to receive a one match ban, so we’re probably feeling a lit - tle bit relieved about that.

“Bennie Westwood won’t be available, aside from that we’re all pretty much right to go. Ryan Atkins is definitely back this week, he’s back fit and healthy, so we’ve got a number of bodies we can choose from.”

Wolves’ fifth-place finish means no second chances in the play-offs, but head of coaching and rugby Smith hopes the knockout nature of Saturday’s game can benefit his side.

“It’s all do or die from here on in, which is a bit different to how we’ve done it before,” he added.

“Hopefully that’s a good thing. Hopefully we can make it work for us, make us really perform straight away.

“Having a home draw is a good advantage and we always like playing at home, there’s a great atmosphere at The HJ and we enjoy our time there.

“We’re well supported wherever we go, but at home makes it even more special so there’s some advantages in finishing fifth as opposed to finishing fourth.

“At the same time we won’t take any of that for granted and we’re looking forward to the challenge Widnes bring.”

And having finished the regular season with tough games against Huddersfield, St Helens and Wigan, Smith is confident Wolves are well-set for a Grand Final assault.

“We’re feeling like it’s sharpened us up and got us into a mode where we’re looking to kick on,” he explained.

“We haven’t been too far off in the past few weeks. We’ve had some really tough battles against some really good teams.

“In terms of performance we’ve been pretty good in each one of those. In terms of commitment and putting bodies on the line the players haven’t failed on that account.

“We’ll hopefully take some of that into the game this week and if we do that it makes it hard for Widnes.”