Widnes Vikings head coach John Kear admits his side were pushed all the way by Keighley Cougars before digging deep to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.
The Vikings had led 18-6 at one stage, but the visitors scored quickfire tries to level the game midway through the second half.
That set up a grandstand finish, but Ryan Millar completed his hat-trick with two tries in the final 10 minutes to wrap up a 26-18 win.
“It was a tough game. Keighley certainly came here to play, and they showed a great response from their performance against Featherstone,” Kear said post-match.
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“They were much improved, and it challenged us. At 18-6, you think ‘perhaps we should nail this game now’, but they scored two quality quickfire tries and it put us under the pump.
“The lads who came off the bench in the second half really lifted us and allowed us to close the game out.”
As well as hat-trick hero Millar, fellow winger Kieran Dixon also put in an impressive shift.
With others in the squad ready for duty when called upon, Kear says it is pleasing to have so many options to choose from, especially in the outside backs.
“It’s a great selection headache because Ryan Ince is waiting on the sidelines, Brad Holroyd is training very hard and Ollie Brookes is recovering from his hamstring injury,” he said.
“They’ll be putting pressure on the two wing incumbents, but at the minute I’m happy with what I’m seeing from my two and five.”
The Vikings head coach also praised the performance of Danny Craven, who scored on his return to the side after missing the club’s Round 1 victory at York RLFC Knights.
With fellow half-back Tom Gilmore set for an extended period on the sidelines, Kear is ready to see more from Craven as he works his way back to full fitness.
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On the 31-year-old’s display, the Vikings head coach said: “I thought he played really well, to say he hadn’t featured in any of the trial games.
“He missed a chunk of training with his hamstring injury, and he put his hand up when he realised that we were going to lose Tom Gilmore.
“In the dressing room, he admitted to me that he was a little bit rusty, but his conditioning will come in the next couple of weeks.
“He’s a quality rugby league player, no doubt about that, with his kicking game and his attacking game when he takes the line on, as he did today.”
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