WIDNES VIKINGS 28
HALIFAX 30
By Dave Parkinson.
Two unbeaten starts to the Championship season went head to head at the Stobart Stadium and at the end of eighty minutes it was the Vikings previously unblemished record in all competitions that went west. In truth it was a scrappy encounter between two of the top three sides in the formulative table and ultimately the bigger error count of the Vikings stopped them from repeating last season's success over Halifax.
Wearing a specially commissioned kit to help raise awareness for the "Everyman" charity, the Vikings started strongly in the televised Championship game when Thomas Coyle, in for tonsilitis affected skipper Mark Smith surged over from dummy half after a couple of strong runs from Matt Gardner and Shane Grady.
Grady, scorer of 100 points in his first seven games of 2010, added the goal and the Vikings dominated the first quarter without registering a further score.
A rising error count and regular penalties stopped the game from flowing although in defence of both teams they continued to fly at each other with some committed defence, while experimenting with their attack. One such tackle on Dave Allen after 21 minutes forced an error and from that possession and a further penalty Halifax were on the Widnes line threatening.
As the ball came right influential halfback Luke Branighan passed for Lee Paterson and his quick hands gave Rob Worrincy the chance to turn inside and beat five Widnes players to the try line for his 7th try of a productive season so far. Paterson levelled the game and this seemed to spur the visitors on. Halifax introduced Mark Gleeson to the game and the former Warrington man added an element of control and purpose.
In spite of this, a couple of Fax mistakes helped heap pressure on them and their defence looked set to crack before a wild pass from Coyle dipped and bobbled in front of James Webster and then evaded the clutches of Allen. Spying the opportunity of an intercept former Salford and Wakefield man Paul White moved on the loose ball and showed blistering pace over the first forty metres before holding off the spirited chase of Paddy Flynn and fullback Scott Yates.
Halifax finally started to roll forward as a unit and after the initial work of starting props Makali Aizue and Dominic Maloney, Frank Watene and particularly Said Tamghart made more than a nuisance of themselves.
A penalty put Halifax in prime territory and they didn't need a second invite when that man Branighan went to the line before a superb short pass brought Paterson his second try of the season and a further goal. Ben Black's towering punt caught Yates out and Dave Wrench followed up to score, but te try was disallowed for offside by the video referee while at the other end, Flynn suffered the same fate after taking an attacking kick and forcing his way over the line only for part of his body to go touch in goal before the grounding.
Spurred on, Widnes enjoyed the better of the closing minutes and registered their second try just before the hooter when Anthony Thackeray kicked high and wide from dummy half. White spilled under pressure of Flynn and Lee Doran grounded the bouncing ball to make it 16-10. Grady struck a near perfect conversion attempt that looked like it would creep over before striking the crossbarl.
The first ten minutes of the second half belonged to Halifax and Paterson increased their advantage with a penalty goal. Widnes were fortunate it wasn't more as White surged downfield only to be brought down by Yates and then a Branighan kick found an onrushing Tamghart who ran away from his supporting players.
Twelve minutes into the second half Widnes targetted the middle of the Halifax defence and on the third occasion it cracked when Thackeray's inside pass found Coyle between defenders and he surged between the posts amid bodies to score. The conversion closed the gap to two points before Halifax demonstrated their attacking play only for White to be denied by the video referee after Black had run behind a decoy.
The next eight minutes were even more scrappy and it looked like neither side wanted to take control before Thackeray ran from dummy half, sent Doran striding through a huge hole and the impressive Liam Farrell tracked up the middle to score under the posts. Grady's conversion ensured the Vikings held a 22-18 advantage after 62 minutes although the 20 year old centre could only look on as first Halifax tackled back to put Matt Gardner into touch after quick play down the left before a 30 metre penalty attempt struck the post and bounced out.
Halifax cleared their lines and then struck for a fourth try after 72 minutes when Branighan kicked right for Widnes to fumble. Eighteen year old substitute Anthony Bowman collected the loose ball and cleverly passed between two men for fullback Shad Royston to continue his prolific start to the season and ground his 9th try. With Paterson off the field, Branighan took on goal-kicking duties and converted for a narrow advantage.
The winning try came four minutes from time when Fax pushed close to the line and Branighan threaded a grubber kick behind the posts for Sean Penkywicz to pounce ahead of a couple of Vikings players. Branighan converted to make it 30-22 and time was against the Vikings. Buoyed by their recent late success over Barrow, Widnes took up the challenge and scored on the right through Richard Varkulis. The centre crossed for his 4th try of the season after excellent work from Wigan loan-man Ben Davies. Grady converted from the touchline in double quick time and the Vikings pushed down both wings before Flynn kicked ahead as the hooter sounded and Royston calmly took the ball into touch to confirm a 30-28 victory for the visitors.
Teams:
Widnes: Scott Yates, Paddy Flynn, Richard Varkulis, Shane Grady, Matt Gardner; Anthony Thackeray, James Webster; Gareth Haggerty, Thomas Coyle, Jim Gannon, Liam Farrell, Lee Doran, Dave Allen. Subs: Ben Kavanagh, Matt Strong, Ben Davies, Dave Houghton.
Tries: Coyle (4, 52), Doran (39), Farrell (62), Varkulis (79).
Goals: Grady 4/6.
Halifax: Shad Royston, Rob Worrincy, Jon Goddard, Lee Paterson, Paul White; Luke Branighan, Ben Black, Makali Aizue, Sean Penkywicz, Dominic Maloney, David Larder, Dave Wrench, Stanley Gene. Subs: Mark Gleeson, Anthony Bowman, Said Tamghart, Frank Watene.
Tries: Worrincy (23), White (29), Paterson (33), Royston (72), Penkywicz (76).
Goals: Paterson 3/4, Branighan 2/2.
Referee: Rob Hicks
Penalties: 10-10.
Attendance: 3,286.
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