Recap
Widnes Vikings beat Dewsbury Rams to make it three consecutive victories in Round 18 of the Betfred Championship thanks to tries from Kieran Dixon, Ryan Ince and a double from Jack Owens.
The Vikings were unchanged from last week’s victory at Workington for John Kear’s first game in front of a home Widnes crowd.
The Vikings got off to a great start and posted their first try of the afternoon early on with halfback Matty Smith playing direct at the line, Shane Grady making the Dewsbury defence sink in giving fullback Jack Owens space to find Matt Fleming who sliced through the Rams defence before offloading to Owens who touched down under the sticks to put us 6-0 to the good.
After wasting several golden opportunities to put us further ahead, followed by ill discipline which resulted in a 9-3 penalty count, Dewsbury finally got on the board through on-loan halfback Bayley Gill who broke the line and chipped over the fullback before dotting down to the right of the sticks, converted by Paul Sykes levelling the scoreboard up.
The next try of the game came through the Rams’ right centre Brad Graham who outjumped the Vikings defenders to latch onto the end of a lofted kick from veteran half back Sykes to put Dewsbury into the lead heading into half time.
The second half saw us come out and complete sets at a better rate, gaining field position and trapping the opposition inside their own half on last tackle plays. The field position finally told after a well worked shift from right to left saw Owens throw a cut out pass to the onrushing Kieran Dixon who scored his third try in as many appearances for the Vikings. An unsuccessful conversion left the scoreline at 12-10 to the Rams heading into the final quarter of the game.
Another last tackle kick play caused trouble in the Vikings defence again, with the ball being dropped on our try line after defending back to back sets, allowing Ben Blackmore to put the visitors out to a six-point lead again.
In the final 10 minutes we piled on the pressure and scored from another cut out pass from Owens, this time to the opposite winger Ryan Ince who scored in the corner after another shift play with all three pivots linking up to put us back within two points with 10 minutes to go.
The final 10 minutes of the afternoon saw us play with a greater intensity than the visitors through our middle unit who carried the ball direct and generated quick play the balls for our spine to get us in good field position, on the back of a Dewsbury error which was forced by some intent in defence. Another set in good ball saw captain Jack Owens on the end of another shift play, accelerating through a gap created by the lead line of second rower Shane Grady to put us ahead with 5 minutes remaining. Jack converted his own try which finished the scoring for the game.
The final five minutes saw the experience of halfback Matty Smith show as he closed out the game with his kicking, leaving Dewsbury deep in their own half and in a corner with 100m to travel if they were to win the game.
We showed resilience to come back from adversity and even though it wasn’t a pretty win, it’s still a win which shows that we are progressing and gaining in confidence.
Widnes Vikings: Jack Owens, Ryan Ince, Matt Fleming, Luis Roberts, Kieran Dixon, Danny Craven, Matty Smith, Adam Lawton, Matty Fozard, Owen Farnworth, Sam Wilde, Shane Grady, Liam Bent.
Interchanges: Joe Lyons, Callum Field, Olly Davies, Kenny Baker.
Tries: Jack Owens (2), Kieran Dixon, Ryan Ince.
Goals: Jack Owens (2/4).
Dewsbury Rams: Calum Turner, Andy Gabriel, Bradley Graham, David Dixon, Ben Blackmore, Paul Sykes, Bayley Gill, Elliot Morris, Reiss Butterworth, Jon-Luke Kirby, Matthew Garside, Michael Knowles, Benjamin Mathiou.
Interchanges: Jake Sweeting, Jack Blagbrough, Jackson Walker, James Beckett.
Tries: Bayley Gill, Bradley Graham, Jon-Luke Kirby.
Goals: Paul Sykes (2/3).
Attendance: 2,381.