WIDNES BEAT WARRINGTON

They secured victory with a much-needed bonus point in order to keep up the pressure on leaders Eccles.

The next step now for the Wids is to get past Aspull in a re-arranged league match on Thursday evening under floodlights – where a win will send them back to the top of the table, with just one weekend of the regular season left.

Before all that, though, they needed to overcome the formidable challenge of local rivals Warrington, whom they were meeting for a second time in just three weeks.

Ultimately, the Wids did get the result they needed, scoring nine tries along with six conversions from the trusty boot of Kevin Leadbetter.

Weather conditions for the game were very difficult, and there was a strong, freezing cold wind blowing diagonally across the pitch.

When the game kicked off, the home side were quickly into their stride, and a timely ball steal from Tom O’Neill ended with some decent inter-play with hooker Ben Mercer who crossed in the corner.

Almost immediately from the restart, O’Neill was at it again as he broke free before releasing Liam Lawton who raced clear to score.

Kevin Leadbetter then added the conversion to give his side a twelve-point advantage.

After that, it was Warrington’s turn to apply some pressure which forced the Wids to show their own defensive qualities.

Jamie Patient was then pulled back for a forward pass after the Wids had broken from distance, but the centre would not be denied for long though as quick hands sent him racing clear to score.

Widnes then had a player sent to the sin-bin, and whilst they were a man down, Warrington replied with a try from Jack Barker which was converted by Matthew Rockey.

Normal service was resumed two minutes later though, as fullback Jack Krause weaved his way to the line to score the all-important bonus point try, with Kevin Leadbetter once again on target.

Shortly afterwards, back-to-back Widnes penalties laid the platform for Krause to pop up and score his second try of the afternoon to make it 29 – 7 at half-time.

Warrington had much the better of the opening ten minutes of the second half as they laid siege to the Widnes line, but they continued to be met by some impressive defending from the ‘red-and-blacks’ as they looked to get over the whitewash.

That was until the 50th minute, when Widnes were able to break free from their defensive shackles, with player of the match Liam Lawton showing a clean pair of heels on a 60-metre dash before handing on to the impressive Dan Rourke, who crossed for his first try in senior colours.

Another conversion from Kevin Leadbetter increased the scoreline to 36 – 7 in favour of the Wids.

The home side then missed a glorious opportunity to add further points, before Tom O’Neill remedied the situation as he barged over the try line to score. The trusty boot of Kevin Leadbetter was again on target with the extras.

Widnes then had a second player sent to the sin-bin and this was followed by even more Warrington pressure as they sought out at least some reward for their second half efforts.

As it was, they were unable to find a way through, and when they too had a man despatched to the side-line for ten minutes, the home side were able to make them pay with a couple more tries.

Firstly, hard-working forward Keiron Arndell was rewarded as he crossed for a try, before Kevin Leadbetter brought up the half-century of points with the conversion.

The best was then saved till last, as replacement Allan Breeden showed a clean pair of heels of a 75-metre dash to the line to score a fine individual effort.

Kevin Leadbetter had the final say with yet another conversion, before the referee sounded his whistle to signal the end of the game, and a successful afternoon for the Widnes faithful.

Head coach Andy McIntosh said “In tough conditions we managed to put in another strong performance to control the game and get the much needed five points.

It was a very stop start affair throughout, but we scored some great tries again and are very pleased with the outcome over the 80 minutes.
Now we must turn our attention to the challenge of Aspull on Thursday night ahead of the Easter break.

Widnes: J Krause, G Hatton, J Patient, L Lawton, T Spencer, K Leadbetter, J Salter, D Rourke, B Mercer, A Haydock, M Garrity, K Arndell, W Patient, Tom O’Neill (c). Reps: P Makles, A Breeden, M Jones