Widnes Vikings earned themselves a hard fought two points with a narrow 11-10 victory over Halifax Panthers in Round 24 of the Betfred Championship.
The Vikings hit the front after just eight minutes, they found themselves with numbers on the left edge and shifted the ball over to Mike Butt who touched down in the corner.
Then followed a freakish run of injures for Allan Coleman’s side, Lewis Hall, Matty Fozard, Nathan Connell, and debutant Max Banditt were all forced off and unable to carry on.
Galvanised by a somewhat makeshift Vikings side, Halifax began to mount some pressure, but the Widnes defence held firm. Danny Richardson’s missed drop goal attempt on the hooter meant the two sides retuned to the shed with the score at 4-0.
It was the hosts who made the better start to the second half, the Vikings failed to deal with a long range Panthers kick, which was picked up and shifted to the corner to level proceedings just ten minutes into the second period.
The Vikings responded just six minutes later, a short kick from Tom Gilmore on the last bounced into the path of Dan Murray, who applied a kick of his own which ricocheted through the legs of a Panthers defender, and sat up perfectly for the forward to crash over.
With eight minutes to go, Gilmore kicked what turned out to be the winning drop goal from 25 yards out.
Although Widnes were enjoying their biggest winning margin of the game, Halifax weren’t going down without a fight, after getting into positive field position from a penalty, Ben Forster got himself on the end of a short ball and burrowed his way over for a Panthers try.
In the final knockings of the game, the Panthers produced a couple of nervy moments for Vikings’ fans with some attacking sets, but they couldn’t convert as the full time hooter sounded to ensure Allan Coleman’s side went home with the points.
Match highlights
Full match replay (subscribers only)
Teams and scorers
Halifax Panthers: Will, Tibbs, Carter, Johnson, Sableman-Blue, Soric, O’Brien, Gittens, Davies, Fairbank, McComb. Interchanges: Thompson, Roby, Morgan, Calcott.
Tries: Sableman-Blue, Forster
Goals: Cater
Widnes Vikings: Connell, Ince, Taylor, Sambou, Butt, Richardson, Gilmore, Murray, Johnstone, Chapelow, Langtree, Roberts, Hall. Interchanges: Fozard, Lawton, Banditt, Houghton, Gregson.
Tries: Butt, Murray
Goals: Richardson, Gilmore
Match reaction
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