The Vikings fell to their first defeat of the season this afternoon, 32-24 to Featherstone Rovers at the Millennium Stadium.
Allan Coleman’s side rallied to come back from 22-6 down to lead but two late tries ensured the hosts took the two points.
Featherstone opened the scoring through Gareth Gale who dove in at the corner after a break from deep.
That lead was extended to 10-0 as Brad England took a cut-out pass to stroll in unopposed.
The Vikings cut the deficit through Max Roberts as he steamed onto Gilmore’s flat pass, however, an error on the stroke of halftime gave the hosts a chance to extend their lead.
A chance they took as Corey Hall caught a kick over the top to put Featherstone 16-6 up at halftime.
Another error to start the second half allowed Rovers to extend their lead as Brad Day crashed over from close range.
That prompted a fightback from the Vikings as Ryan Ince crossed in the corner from a cut-out pass by Jack Owens.
Owens then turned scorer as he backed up a brilliant break and pass from the outstanding Danny Langtree to bring the scores to 22-18.
The Vikings drew level as Ryan Ince bagged his brace before Gilmore nailed the touchline conversion to give us the lead.
This prompted a spell of heavy pressure from the hosts which ultimately told as Connor Wynne scored two tries in the final 7 minutes to seal a 32-24 win.
We turn our attention to a trip to Bradford Bulls next Sunday.
COACHES COMMENTS
Head Coach Allan Coleman said: “I’m disappointed. I thought we had them at the end but we probably just didn’t make the right choices in the key moments.
“I’ve said to the group it’s very important to learn from where we get things wrong but I’m proud of the players, the effort was there against a very good team.
“Our last ditched efforts and the energy on our line was very good, the scramble defence was good as ever, as was our togetherness. We just gave them quite a lot which is frustrating for me.
“We showed glimpses in that second half of what we can do and once we start doing that for longer periods, we will be a hard team to beat.”
TEAMS AND SCORERS
Featherstone Rovers: Aekins, Wynne, Minikin, Hall, Gale, Bowes, Turner, Springer, Jones, Bussey, Day, England, Addy
Interchanges: Kamano, Tanner, Butterworth, Tennison, Albert (18th)
Tries: Wynne x2, Gale, England, Hall, Day
Goals: Addy x4
Widnes Vikings: Owens, Butt, Lloyd, Roberts, Ince, Lyons, Gilmore, Kirk, Johnstone, Murray, Langtree, Wilde, Gregson
Interchanges: Field, Fozard, Brooks, Walker, Dixon (18th)
Tries: Ince x2, Roberts, Owens
Goals: Gilmore x4
