Widnes edge out Park

They were pushed all the way by the South Manchester outfit, who just didn’t know when they were beaten, with the outcome of the game in doubt until the final whistle.

Nevertheless, the home side did finally manage to get the job done and claim the maximum five league points on offer, and overall, they cannot have been anything other than delighted with their afternoon’s work.

Away from the result, it was also an important milestone for the Wids, with all 18 of their players on duty having come through the mini and junior sections, and it was great to see the latest bunch of Dan Rourke, Charlie Feeley Alex Jones and player of the match Allan Breeden, all making their mark in this game.

The weather was bright and sunny as kick off time approached, but there was a very stiff and chilly wind blowing down the pitch for the full eighty minutes.

Park got the game underway, and had much the better of the early stages. That was until the tenth minute, when a Charlie Feeley break down centre field, was finished off by wing man Tom Spencer who crossed for a try wide out.

Around fifteen minutes later, Park opened their account when Francis Boldy knocked over a penalty from 30 metres.

Widnes, though, were soon able to respond as hooker Ben Mercer showed both pace and strength on a thirty-metre dash to the line to score in the corner.

The home side should probably have added more points after Liam Lawton managed to get on the outside of his opposite number, before Park then had a chance which was denied by some excellent Wids last gasp defence.

On 37 minutes, Widnes again fell foul of the referee, and Boldy was on target once more to make it 10 – 6.

Sadly, and not for the first time, a Park error from the restart offered the home side another try scoring opportunity, which, they were able to take with both hands, as Josh Salter crossed to further increase their advantage.

Ultimately, that proved to be the last action of the half, which saw the ‘red-and-blacks’ leading at the break by 15pts – 6.

Although they now had the wind in their favour, the second half did not begin well for the home side, as they quickly lost a man into the sin-bin. Park were then able to take full advantage of the extra man to barge their way over the line for a converted try.

At 15 – 13 Widnes then introduced Arnie Haydock and Justin Winstanley from the bench.

And it didn’t take long for those changes to take effect, as quick hands along the backline stretched the visitors defence for Gavin Hatton to cross for the bonus point try.

At 20 – 13 things were looking good for the home side, but suddenly two more yellow cards with minutes of each other saw them with their backs against the wall. And Park did not need asking twice as they immediately barged their way over the line for another try.

Fortunately, the conversion attempt hit the upright and bounced out, leaving the Wids with a narrow two-point advantage.

In a frantic last few minutes, the visitors then had a man sent to the sin-bin, meaning that Widnes should have gone on to win it from there. But some poor execution and decision making had them hanging on for the final whistle.

Head coach Andy McIntosh said afterwards “After playing really well in that first half and building a decent lead, we then saw a number of infringements and three yellow cards in quick succession. Being down a man for long periods really invited Broughton Park back into the game they kept it tight and rolled us up the field.

In the end, we defended the game out and came up with some quality turnovers at key times to stop their late charge.

In difficult conditions with lots of key positional changes, credit goes to the lads for battling it out again, showing some grit and coming away with a fully deserved bonus point win.

We must learn from this and push on again next week away at Eccles who are also on a really good run of form”.
Widnes: J Salter, T Spencer, A Breeden, L Lawton, G Hatton, K Leadbetter, A Owens, D Rourke, B Mercer, M Lawton, M Garrity, C Feeley, T O’Neill (c), W Patient, M Jones. Reps: J Winstanley, A Haydock, A Jones.