WIDNES VIKINGS 24 BARROW RAIDERS 8
JAMES GORDON, DCBL Stadium, Saturday

WIDNES moved above Barrow in the Championship table with a hard-fought win that was only settled following a flurry of cards in the final stages.

After losing their last two home games to teams around them in the table, the Vikings were determined to get one over the Raiders and they largely controlled the first half.

They opened the scoring on eight minutes, moments after Alex Bishop had knocked on over the line at the other end. Widnes rolled forward from the 20-metre tap and Nathan Connell’s footwork saw him over the line on the last tackle.

From then, Widnes had much the better of the territory but were frustrated by the Raiders’ stout defence.

But with just a minute or so to go of the first half, a knock-on in midfield gave Widnes a scrum, and from it captain Jack Owens burst through on the left for a solo score to give them breathing space.

That was eaten into quickly at the start of the second half as Barrow returned strongly and, for the first time in the match, started piling on pressure themselves. Three consecutive sets on the line eventually ended with Josh Wood’s flat pass finding Ryan King to coast over on the last tackle from close range to reduce arrears to 8-4.

The Barrow pressure continued off the back of a superb Ryan Johnston 40/20, but Widnes stayed firm and restored their two-score lead on the hour mark with a superb try. Fozard burst through from dummy-half to find Connell on a weaving run, and his inside ball to Tom Gilmore was excellent and helped complete the move to put them ten in front.

But Barrow weren’t done, and another monstrous Johnston kick was fumbled by Mike Butt, retrieved by Dan Knott and got the Raiders back on the attack. Then as the pressure built, a late shot on Brad Walker ended up with Owens sent to the sin bin.

Barrow immediately made the most of the numerical advantage, Curtis Teare brushing off Max Roberts after back-to-back penalties to get them back within a score at 14-8 and the momentum was with them.

That was squandered though when barely a couple of minutes into Owens’ time out, three more cards were shown. Widnes shifted the ball right and Connell was tip-tackled by an apologetic Shane Toal, which then resulted in a set-to featuring virtually every player on the pitch.

The outcome of all that was Toal, plus his tackle partner-in-crime Luke Broadbent, sent to the sin bin, along with Widnes’ Adam Lawton, resulting in a period of eleven versus eleven.

Widnes turned down the penalty shot at goal, and it proved the right decision as wily halfback Gilmore took on the line and his momentum in the tackle took him over to stretch their lead to twelve on 73 minutes.

Barrow had to push things from there on in, and when they tried to keep the ball alive in midfield, it ended up in the hands of Roberts who was able to race away from 60 metres to ensure the points belonged to the home side.

GAMESTAR: Despite his sin bin, Jack Owens led by example for the Vikings.

GAMEBREAKER: Barrow will regret not knowing what the outcome might have been had Toal not tip-tackled Connell, shortly followed by Gilmore’s second try.

MATCHFACTS

VIKINGS
23 Nathan Connell
2 Mike Butt
12 Max Roberts
3 Jack Owens
5 Ryan Ince
17 Danny Richardson
7 Tom Gilmore
8 Dan Murray
9 Jordan Johnstone
21 Jay Chapelhow
16 Danny Langtree
11 Sam Wilde
13 Nick Gregson
Subs (all used)
14 Matty Fozard
15 Lewis Hall
19 Adam Lawton
20 Jack Billington

Tries: Connell (8), Owens (38), Gilmore (62, 73), Roberts (78)
Goals: Richardson 2/5
Sin bin: Owens (66) – dissent, Lawton (72) – fighting

RAIDERS
1 Luke Cresswell
20 Dan Knott
4 Curtis Teare
3 Shane Toal
5 Luke Broadbent
6 Brad Walker
7 Ryan Johnston
10 Joe Bullock
17 Alex Bishop
8 Tom Walker
11 Ellis Robson
13 Ryan King
32 Ellis Gilliam
Subs (all used)
9 Josh Wood
16 Greg Richards
22 Jarrad Stack
31 Harvey Makin

Tries: King (45), Teare (69)
Goals: B Walker 0/2
Sin bin: Toal (72) – tip tackle, Broadbent (72) – fighting

SCORING SEQUENCE: 4-0, 8-0; 8-4, 14-4, 14-8, 20-8, 24-8

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Vikings: Jack Owens; Raiders: Josh Wood

Penalty count: 5-6
Half-time: 8-0
Referee: James Vella
Attendance: 1,916