WARRINGTON Wolves’ 10 game winning run came to an end with a 28-14 defeat at local rivals Widnes.
Tony Smith’s men trailed 16-0 at the break, and despite a second half fightback, didn’t have enough to overhaul the Vikings, who had only won one of their last eight games.
It is the first time in Super League history that neither side will have won all games against the other in a calendar year, with Warrington having won the reverse fixture in April.
The hosts took the lead on 10 minutes. Danny Galea was held up over the line by a Matty Russell tackle, but from the next play, Gene Ormsby was caught napping, enabling opposite number Jack Owens to squeeze over in the corner on the blind side.
A Danny Tickle conversion made the score 6-0, and that’s how it stayed until three minutes before the break, when Widnes ran in a quickfire double to take control of the game.
Russell, who struggled under the high ball, spilled a Kevin Brown kick setting up field position for Widnes, and it was Rhys Hanbury who crossed the line, taking Hep Cahill’s pass, eventually awarded by the video referee.
And right on the hooter, Widnes added their third try, Paddy Flynn taking a cut out pass to score on the right.
Warrington came out firing at the start of the second half, but were dealt the cruellest of blows on 47 minutes. Ormsby took a kick and broke away down field, but his wild offload was put down by Russell, and collected by Flynn. The Widnes wide man beat a couple of men and launched a long pass left to Cameron Phelps, who finished the move for a fourth try.
Ben Westwood then conceded a penalty near to the posts, giving Tickle the chance to extend the score to 24-0, which he duly did.
The Wolves finally got on the scoresheet on 55 minutes, straight from a scrum, as Ryan Atkins took advantage of a slip by opposite number Stef Marsh to cruise in down the left, and three minutes later Chris Bridge was in, and Warrington had cut the deficit to just 14 points.
But any momentum generated by the visitors was lost when Roy Asotasi lost the ball on impact in a tackle by young Widnes hooker Liam Carberry, and from the resulting field position, Widnes scored through Owens, who took Brown’s pinpoint kick at the corner.
Both sides had tries questionably ruled out by the video referee in the final quarter, and it was only the Wolves who could muster another score, a try down the left through Ben Currie, but it wasn’t enough to deny Widnes a much-needed two points in their race for the play-offs.
Widnes have now won three of the last four meetings between the two sides.
Widnes: Hanbury, Owens, Phelps, Marsh, Flynn, Brown, Mellor, Cahill, Clarke, Gerrard, Galea, Tickle, Leuluai. Interchanges: Allen, Kavanagh, Isa, Carberry.
Warrington: Russell, Ormsby, Ratchford, Atkins, R. Evans, C. Bridge, O’Brien, Hill, Higham, England, Currie, Westwood, Wood. Interchanges: Asotasi, Riley, Dwyer, Philbin.
