REPORT: SHEFFIELD EAGLES 30-21 WIDNES VIKINGS

The Vikings fell to back-to-back defeats for the first time this season, going down 30-21 to Sheffield Eagles at the Olympic Legacy Park.

Allan Coleman’s side scored three tries on the day but it wasn’t enough as the hosts came back in the second half to take the points.

Widnes hit first through Max Roberts as he latched onto a kick from Tom Gilmore to score.

The lead was extended to 12 points as the Vikings moved the ball left to Ollie Brookes who fed Jack Owens to score out wide.

Kris Welham then responded for the Eagles taking a short pass to go in under the posts and cut the deficit to six points.

The Eagles received a yellow card as Alex Foster was sent to the bin for a hip drop tackle on Sam Wilde, which resulted in Tom Gilmore adding a penalty goal to extend the lead to eight points.

It was then the Vikings’ turn to have a man sent to the bin as Max Roberts was shown yellow for a late hit.

The defence held firm before Gilmore dropped a goal on the stroke of halftime to give the Vikings a 15-6 lead at the break.

After the interval, Gilmore added another penalty to extend the lead to eleven points.

The hosts’ comeback was kicked off by Connor Bower as he collected an offload to score by the posts.

Shortly after Matt Fleming was sent to the bin for a dangerous tackle which the Eagles took full advantage of, scoring through James Glover to take the lead.

The Vikings re-took the lead while down to 12 as Ollie Brookes latched onto Gilmore’s kick, before releasing a brilliant pass inside to Max Roberts to grab his second.

It was a short-lived lead for the Vikings, however, who fell behind once again as Halafihi burrowed his way over from dummy half to re-establish the hosts’ advantage.

Sheffield sealed the win through Kris Whelham, who went out of dummy half to grab his second after a break from Matty Marsh broke open the defence.

The Vikings look to finish the month with a win against Batley Bulldogs next Sunday at the DCBL Stadium. Tickets are available HERE

COACHES COMMENTS

Head Coach Allan Coleman said: “It was a mixed bag. First half I thought we were really good and stuck to our game plan but we just didn’t really come out in that second half.

“We looked low on energy and were a bit dumb at times. We scored to take the lead again and I was expecting us to kick on but something just wasn’t right.

“They rolled us a bit in that second half, to be honest, they got on top of us and we struggled.

“We had two sin bins to critical positions in our centres, and when you’re down to 12 men on a pitch this wide it is very difficult. But we’ve got to look at it and be better on our discipline.”