Widnes Vikings, Halton Stadium, Lower House Lane, Widnes, Cheshire, WA8 7DZ
Match Report
Thursday 22nd June 2017, 20:00
Super League - Round: 19 |
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Widnes Vikings (20) 36 ![]() |
VS. |
Leigh Centurions 10 (0) ![]() |
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7 Chris Bridge, Chris Houston 2, Corey Thompson 2, Ryan Ince, Matt Whitley, |
TRIES |
Nick Rawsthorne, Atelea Vea, |
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4 Chris Bridge 3, Danny Craven, |
GOALS |
Josh Drinkwater, |
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0
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D. GOALS |
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Attendance: 5,604 Official: J Child Venue: Halton Stadium |
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Full Time Report
Chris Houston and Corey Thompson scored doubles as Widnes Vikings beat Leigh Centurions 36-10 in a bottom-of-the-table Betfred Super League clash.
The Vikings ran in four tries to climb off the bottom of the table and be replaced by Leigh, with just a point between the two.
The home side were well ahead in the energy battle and it showed in a high-octane 20 minutes where the Vikings laid down a marker.
Chris Bridge returned to the side with a bang as he got the first try in the third minute, before Houston was freed by Rangi Chase for a second just three minutes later.
#SLWidLei @WidnesRL leapfrog @LeighCenturions to move off the bottom of the table pic.twitter.com/HPKZ4on1BX
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) June 22, 2017
Thompson got in on the act just after the half-hour as he found his way over, and Houston opened up a 20-0 half-time lead when he bulldozed over.
It was Leigh who drew first blood in the second half as Nick Rawsthorne slid over for a debut score, before Atelea Vea added a second to revive the match.
However, Ryan Hampshire gifted Thompson an open run to the line to put the game out of the visitors' reach, before Ryan Ince and Marry Whitley wrapped up an easy win.
#SLWidLei
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) June 22, 2017
Winners are 😁 pic.twitter.com/WhzfiKfI6k
An angry Neil Jukes said of his side's loss: “It was an awful first half. I still can’t get my head around it. We had a tough week and got some good talk going so we were confident. We even spoke about this as being a cup final.
"It’s as bad as I’ve seen. It was disappointing for a game of this magnitude."
Widnes head coach Denis Betts added: “We looked more in control. We are starting to get bodies back now and that is obviously helping. The kids that aren’t playing in the side now, they have given us the base but we’ve brought more experience in and that’s good for us.
“We have got to put in some more good performances. We have enjoyed this last month, three wins from four games.”
NJ: We've had a tough week since Wigan and we set this up as a Cup final to give ourselves the chance of getting out of where we are.
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) June 22, 2017