LAST GASP WIDNES

The home side really took the game to the visitors particularly in that first half, but in the end, it wasn’t quite enough as the ‘red-and-blacks’ mounted a gritty second half recovery mission to finally claim the spoils with a late penalty.

Although they did manage to secure a losing bonus point, it could have been so much more for the home side who will perhaps be left regretting their decisions not to take a couple of penalty shots at goal when the scoreboard was at its tightest, rather than trying to finish the game off with another try.

To sum up for the visitors; they found themselves trailing by a 15-point margin after half an hour, as well as having to do it the hard way with three players on the sidelines at various times throughout the game.

But in the final analysis, they were able to dig deep and find the will to win to keep their place at the top of the pile.

The dreadful weather caused by Storm Babet the previous day, had finally subsided to give way to some brighter conditions, whilst the pitch was also firm and dry meaning that it would be ideal for some free-flowing rugby between the top two teams in the division.

And it was the home side who had much the better of the early exchanges. They looked full of running, determination and enthusiasm, and it wasn’t really a surprise when Will Parkinson crossed for a try to open their account after just four minutes.

Stand-off Alex Speakman was on target with the conversion to make it 7 – nil.

After Widnes had suffered their first yellow card, they were finally able to shake off their defensive shackles, and Alex Jones made a great break before handing on to Ryan Millington who scored the try.

Three minutes later, Speakman booted over a penalty to increase the home side’s advantage.

Eccles then bombed a glorious try scoring opportunity, and instead had to settle for another three pointer from stand-off Speakman.

Widnes immediately responded, and should have scored themselves. But instead, a loose ball close to the Eccles line was swooped upon by pacy wingman Tim Balogun who hacked on a couple of times before collecting and scoring a try which was completely against the run of play.

With Speakman again adding the extras, there was suddenly some daylight between the sides at 20pts – 5.

With their unbeaten start to the campaign now looking decidedly dodgy, they needed a quick response. And they got it, as Widnes hooker Ben Mercer exploited a huge gap in the Eccles ranks to race home almost untouched for a try which Kevin Leadbetter converted to make it 20 – 12 at the break.

With an eight-point deficit still to make up, the visitors needed a positive start to the second half if they were to re-establish themselves in the contest.

And they managed to do that helped by a couple of early penalties which got them close enough for Arnie Haydock to crash over for a try which Kevin Leadbetter converted to make it a one-point ball game

A further Wids yellow card was then followed by the introduction of young Bobby Finch who was making his First Team debut, and the scrum half was soon in the thick of the action.

Realising they were in a real battle now, Eccles re-doubled their efforts to get the job done, and piled on the pressure once again. They did have opportunities to add further points with a couple of kickable penalties, but spurned those chances by looking to score the try that would finish their opponents off.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, the visitors defence did manage to hold firm, and after absorbing a whole load of pressure managed to make their way downfield once more.

With five minutes left, Kevin Leadbetter missed with a difficult long range penalty attempt.

But, just two minutes later, a super kick downfield from Finch laid the platform for Widnes to attack again, and when Eccles were pinged for a penalty, Kevin Leadbetter remained calm to convert the kick and give his side the lead for the first time in the match.

In the end, that proved to be enough. Eccles did everything they could in those final moments, but the Wids held on to claim victory and maintain their unbeaten run.

Head coach Andy McIntosh said afterwards “This was a game of two halves which we started poorly, gave away too many penalties, but then showed some real grit and determination to grind out a win late on after a battling second half performance against the odds.

We came up with just enough quality in some key moments and slotted over a late penalty to edge ahead - after being on the wrong end of some marginal decisions in a very scrappy, stop start game which saw us down on numbers. This happens in rugby so finding a way to win when you are on the back foot away from home is great credit to the lads.

We have a local derby in the cup at West Park next week and we will be looking to learn, improve and go again”.