WIDNES VIKINGS 18 YORK KNIGHTS 36
JAMES GORDON, DCBL Stadium, Sunday
YORK came from 18-0 down to maintain their recent hoodoo over Widnes and record an eighth successive victory to keep the pressure on the Championship top two.
York had won on their last five visits to Widnes, but it was the home side that opened the scoring on five minutes when Toa Mata’afa spilled Tom Gilmore’s kick close to the line, and the loose ball was pounced upon by Rhys Williams.
The Vikings went back-to-back with the pick of the tries, Jordan Johnstone scampering through a gap from dummy-half inside his own half to find Max Roberts in support, and he delayed his pass long enough to find Jake Maizen backing up to take the ball to the line.
Maizen turned provider for their third try, taking the ball back against the grain and finding Dan Murray to crash over from 10 metres out.
But despite being 18-0 up, Widnes’ afternoon began to unravel when they lost Tom Gilmore and Jordan Johnstone immediately after scoring their third try, and they joined skipper Jack Owens on the sideline, with Owens having been forced off with an ankle injury he picked up in the opening minutes that he had tried to play on with.
York moved Widnes left and then right to get their first score on the board through Ben Jones-Bishop in the right corner, and he would complete a first half hat-trick before the hooter.
His second try came on the half-hour mark, Ata Hingano slipping on the last tackle but managing to get a wild offload out off the floor to find Liam Harris, and his pinpoint kick was taken and grounded by Jones-Bishop.
Then, right on the stroke of half time, a six-again gave York additional pressure on the Widnes line and Jones-Bishop managed to take a pass facing his own line, spin around and squeeze in by the corner flag, though Harris missed the tricky conversion attempt to leave York two behind at the break.
It took them twelve minutes to complete the turnaround. They ran a last-tackle play on the right and Kieran Buchanan’s attempted pass came off a Widnes hand on its way to the ground and that presented them with the field position for Connor Bailey to power over.
Widnes lost Lewis Hall to injury, leaving them with 13 fit players. And with players playing out of position all along the line, they were forced to try something different to try and break through, but it backfired when Maizen’s chip and chase was plucked out the air by Hingano.
Although Andy Badrock chased him down, the pressure resulted in a penalty being conceded, and Harris duly obliged from in front of the posts to extend York’s lead to six points.
Badrock spilled the ball ten metres out on one of Widnes’ few chances in the second half, but he made up for it with a try-saving tackle on Scott Galeano at the other end.
York put the game to bed with Jones-Bishop this time turning try provider to put Buchanan over, and Galeano’s 85-metre try adding icing to the cake.
GAMESTAR: Ben Jones-Bishop’s clinical finishing on the right dragged York back into contention.
GAMEBREAKER: As soon as York hit the front in the second half through Connor Bailey, there was no way back for Widnes.
MATCHFACTS
VIKINGS
33 Jake Maizen
5 Mike Butt
1 Jack Owens
4 Joe Edge
29 Rhys Williams
6 Joe Lyons
7 Tom Gilmore
8 Dan Murray
9 Jordan Johnstone
15 Liam Bent
17 Max Roberts
30 Andy Badrock
18 Nick Gregson
Subs (all used)
13 Morgan McWhirter
14 Matty Fozard
20 Lewis Hall
21 Gavin Bennion
Tries: Williams (5), Maizen (9), Murray (20)
Goals: Gilmore 2/2, Edge 1/1
KNIGHTS
36 Toa Mata’afa
34 Ben Jones-Bishop
3 Kieran Buchanan
20 Oliver Field
35 Scott Galeano
6 Ata Hingano
7 Liam Harris
8 Jack Martin
9 Paul McShane
17 Ukuma Ta’ai
12 Connor Bailey
16 Jacob Gannon
13 Jordan Thompson
Subs (all used)
10 Brenden Santi
14 Taylor Pemberton
21 Conor Fitzsimmons
31 Kieran Hudson
Tries: Jones-Bishop (23, 30, 40), Bailey (52), Buchanan (68), Galeano (78)
Goals: Harris 6/7
SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 12-0, 18-0, 18-6, 18-12, 18-16; 18-22, 18-24, 18-30, 18-36
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Vikings: Dan Murray; Knights: Ben Jones-Bishop
Penalty count: 8-3
Half-time: 18-16
Referee: Scott Mikalauskas
Attendance: 2,677