Widnes Vikings 10 Warrington Wolves 30 by James Gordon Pictures Eddie Whitham
WARRINGTON Wolves crashed to a third consecutive league defeat as they went down 30-10 at neighbours Widnes Vikings.
The Vikings ran in six tries to record a home victory against the Wolves for the third successive season, in a game that was halted briefly in the first half after a travelling supporter threw on flare on the pitch. 
That incident came after Ben Westwood had touched down for the game’s opening try on six minutes, picking up a loose ball from Gareth O’Brien’s lofty kick. With O’Brien waiting to kick the conversion, obstructed by the object, referee Robert Hicks ordered the players off the field for around eight minutes.
When both sets of players returned, O’Brien added the extras from under the posts to give Warrington a 6-0 lead.
Widnes got on the board five minutes later. Stefan Marsh’s powerful run down the right gave Widnes the platform, before the ball was switched to the other side and Cameron Phelps went in near the corner.
Kevin Brown was instrumental on his return from injury for Widnes, and his pass sent Rhys Hanbury through a gap to set the platform for Widnes’ second try, eventually finished by Marsh from Brown’s cross field kick.
That gave Widnes the lead which they wouldn’t relinquish. It was 14-6 at the break following Marsh’s second try, although Jack Owens missed a penalty on the hooter.
Warrington’s hopes of a comeback were halted in five second half minutes, which saw Lloyd White cross for Widnes’ fourth try shortly before Ben Westwood was sent to the sin bin. With the Wolves down to 12, Brown danced through for a try of his own to put Widnes out to 26-6.
Stefan Ratchford then sent the kick-off out on the full to compound Warrington’s woe.
But Tony Smith’s men were given faint hope with 15 minutes to play, when Widnes were reduced to 12 men with Danny Tickle sent to the sin bin, and Ben Currie scored in the corner moments later to reduce arrears to three scores.
It proved too tall of an order for the visitors, and Widnes added icing to their cake in the final minutes when Owens squeezed past Joel Monaghan in the corner to wrap up the scoring.
Warrington’s attention now turns to Monday’s home game against Castleford.
Vikings: Rhys Hanbury; Stefan Marsh, Chris Dean, Cameron Phelps, Jack Owens; Kevin Brown, Joe Mellor; Gil Dudson, Lloyd White, Eamon O’Carroll, Danny Tickle, Danny Galea, Macgraff Leuluai. Subs: Alex Gerrard, Aaron Heremaia, Manase Manuokafoa, Matt Whitley.
Wolves: Kevin Penny, Joel Monaghan, Chris Bridge, Ryan Atkins, Matty Russell; Stefan Ratchford, Gareth O’Brien; Chris Hill, Ashton Sims, Ben Currie, Ben Westwood, Ben Harrison. Subs: Daryl Clark, Roy Asotasi, Anthony England, James Laithwaite.
Atten: 7,768
