Loanee Brad Martin secures dramatic Batley Bulldogs win over Widnes Vikings

BATLEY BULLDOGS 28 WIDNES VIKINGS 20
KEITH McGHIE, Fox’s Biscuits Stadium, Sunday

MIDWEEK loan signing Brad Martin scored a brace of late tries as Batley overhauled a 20-12 deficit to end Widnes’ unbeaten start to the year.

The Bulldogs claimed three touchdowns in the final eight minutes to claim what, for much of a gutsy but error-strewn display, seemed an unlikely win for the threadbare hosts.

Skipper James Brown and Joe Arundel were both struggling with calf trouble while fullback Robbie Butterworth felt unwell pre-match.

The Vikings, unbeaten in five games in all competitions, seemed to have proficiently managed playing up Mount Pleasant’s notorious slope after half-time, but ultimately were left to rue only accumulating a six-point first half advantage.

Castleford-based Martin came in to make his debut on a month’s loan from Leigh, while fellow forward Noah High arrived on dual-registration from Wakefield to help plug the gaps.

The Bulldogs were forced to be without Niall Flynn, who suffered a knee injury the previous week, and Luke Blake, who failed an HIA during the narrow defeat by Bradford, while neither Jayden Myers nor Josh Rourke, who had played recently, were made available by Trinity.

The Vikings were able to include last year’s top try scorer Ryan Ince for his first game of the season, while captain Jack Owens had also overcome a hip problem incurred in February’s game against North Wales Crusaders.

A quartet of errors in the opening eight minutes put early pressure on the hosts, who were already defending the lower end of the ground yet, having held firm, Batley would surely have been disappointed when Vikings hooker Matty Fozard was able to dash across the line from dummy-half.

Ex-Bulldog Martyn Reilly lost control as he went to crash over near the posts before Dec Patton, Owens and Matty Fleming helped Rhys Williams to run free down the right wing to score.

Tom Gilmore, who played for two years and scored well over 200 points for the Bulldogs, comfortably converted both to give the visitors a healthy 12-point lead in barely even time.

But a Williams fumble of a high Josh Woods kick, plus a six-again, gave the Bulldogs the opportunity for Joe Burton to put Jack Render over in the corner.

Josh Woods’ conversion halved the deficit and so it stayed until the break.

Robbie Butterworth’s re-start went straight out to again give Widnes good early field position and Gilmore added a 30-metre penalty when the Bulldogs were caught offside.

A Fleming handing error led to Arundel forcing his way over, with Woods’ kick dubiously being given as ‘good’, despite the shear height of the ball seeming to baffle the touch-judges.

Owens put Max Roberts in to stretch Widnes’ lead with Gilmore’s touchline kick regaining the Vikings’ two-score advantage.

But as the game wore on, Woods’ long looping pass enabled Elliot Kear to score near the corner.

Burton then broke through and handed to Martin to level the scores, Woods edging Batley ahead for the first time with five minutes remaining.

And, having run the clock down with clever offloads, Ben White’s final pass enabled Martin to stride clear for his second try.

Unfortunately for Batley, their man of the moment, who had just two training sessions with the Bulldogs, will not be available to play in Sunday’s cup tie against his parent club Leigh.

GAMESTAR: Josh Woods’ kicking and game management kept Batley in the contest.

GAMEBREAKER: The countless offloads which kept the ball alive and ran the clock down before Martin’s decisive second try.

MATCHFACTS
BULLDOGS
1 Robbie Butterworth
5 Elliot Kear
3 Ollie Greensmith
2 Joe Burton
13 Jack Render
6 Ben White
7 Josh Woods
15 Brad Martin
23 Jonah Parsons
13 James Brown
4 Joe Arundel
11 Dane Manning
14 Brandon Moore
Subs (all used)
31 Noah High
20 Paul Chitakunya
16 Michael Ward
9 Alistair Leak

Tries: Render (22), Arundel (48), Kear (72), Martin (75, 80)
Goals: Woods 4/5

VIKINGS
1 Jack Owens
2 Ryan Ince
3 Matty Fleming
17 Max Roberts
29 Rhys Williams
19 Dec Patton
7 Tom Gilmore
8 Dan Murray
14 Matty Fozard
10 Martyn Reilly
11 Rhodri Lloyd
12 Danny Langtree
15 Liam Bent
Subs (all used)
27 Aiden Doolan
13 Ryan Lannon
21 Gavin Bennion
14 Max Wood