The Vikings fell to a 36-18 defeat to York Knights on a difficult afternoon at the DCBL Stadium.
Allan Coleman’s side stormed into an early lead but were unable to withstand a second-half surge from York, compounded by the loss of four key players to injury.
Widnes made a flying start, opening the scoring after just five minutes when Rhys Williams capitalised on a spilled kick from Toa Mata’afa, gathering the loose ball to finish out wide.
It got better for the Vikings on the following set, breaking from deep after some great link-up play from Jordan Johnstone and Max Roberts. The ball eventually reached Jake Maizen, who raced clear to score.
With momentum firmly in their favour, a third try followed shortly after, as Dan Murray took a short pass from the lively Maizen to crash over and send the Vikings into an 18-0 lead.
But the game began to unravel soon after, as the Vikings suffered a triple blow. Jack Owens, Tom Gilmore, and Jordan Johnstone were all forced off in quick succession with injuries, forcing a major reshuffle.
York took full advantage, beginning their comeback through Ben Jones-Bishop, who latched onto a looping pass to dive in at the corner.
Jones-Bishop then completed his first-half hat-trick, with two further tries pulling the visitors back into the contest. A missed conversion on the stroke of half-time meant the Vikings clung to a narrow 18-16 lead at the break.
York took the lead 15 minutes into the second half as Connor Bailey powered his way over to give the visitors a four-point advantage. That advantage would be extended to six as Liam Harris knocked over a penalty goal after Widnes were caught offside.
Though depleted, the Vikings would not lie down, going close to drawing level on two occasions, first Nick Gregson powered his way over but just lost control of the ball over the line.
Andrew Badrock then had the chance to hit back but couldn’t take a short pass from Joe Lyons with the line begging.
Having survived those scares, the visitors sealed the result as Kieran Buchanan finished off a move on the right-hand side to extend the lead to 12.
With ten minutes remaining, the Vikings’ misery was compounded even further as Lewis Hall was forced off with a nasty-looking ankle injury.
Chasing the game, a speculative pass from Lyons was intercepted by Scott Galeano, who raced clear to seal a 36-18 victory for the Knights.
We turn our attention to a big clash with Toulouse Olympique in the final game of our June Jamboree this Saturday. Tickets are available HERE.
TEAMS AND SCORERS
Widnes Vikings: Maizen, Butt, Owens, Edge, Williams, Lyons, Gilmore, Murray, Johnstone, Bent, Roberts, Badrock, Gregson
Interchanges: McWhirter, Fozard, Hall, Bennion, Lloyd (18th)
Tries: Williams, Maizen, Murray
Goals: Gilmore x2, Edge
York Knights: Mata’afa, Jones-Bishop, Buchanan, Field, Galeano, Hingano, Harris, Martin, McShane, Ta’ai, Bailey, Gannon, Thompson
Interchanges: Santi, Pemberton, Fitzsimmons, Hudson, Brown (18th)
Tries: Jones-Bishop x3, Bailey, Buchanan, Galeano
Goals: Harris x6
ATTENDANCE: 2,677
