Coach laments gift-wrapped points that cost Vikings
SUNDAY JULY 19, 2009 Widnes travelled to Gateshead the week after their triumph in the Northern Rail Cup final, with former coach Steve McCormack putting one over on his former club.
The surprise 34-18 loss came at a cost with John Duffy suffering a broken jaw as the Vikings lost ground in the race to win the title.
The game started well with Tim Hartley converting Kevin Penny’s try but Gateshead answered with three tries to lead 16-6 before Hartley converted a try from the returning Paddy Flynn. Hope was short-lived as the hosts added another treble with Anthony Thackeray crossing for a late consolation try which was again goaled by Hartley. ● ‘WIDNES VIKINGS - On This Day’, available now at £9.99 from the Vikings Superstore. WIDNES VIKINGS ...................... 24 HULL KINGSTON ROVERS ....... 26
THE Vikings’ 14th successive defeat in the Betfred Super League, 26-24 to Hull KR at Halton Stadium, confirmed the club’s status as wooden spoonists for 2018.
It’s the second year on the trot Widnes have finished bottom of the pile, though yet again their long-suffering supporters could no doubt see a side that was offering commitment against Rovers.
However, commitment is one thing; execution is another. A string of basic errors proved the team’s downfall despite some encouraging individual performances, most notably from a pair of youngsters in the shape of twotry winger Owen Buckley and fullback Olly Ashall-Bott.
It left interim head coach Francis Cummins a frustrated man.
He said: “It’s not about effort, desire or even ability. It’s fundamentals; not playing the ball properly and one-on-one tackles near our line.
“We got to a good place in the ● game but it’s two steps forward and one step back.
“At the moment we’re hurting ourselves a lot more than the opposition are.
“Hull KR have been going really well but I thought at points in that game they’d gone – but we lacked the composure to take advantage. We looked like a team that hasn’t won for a while. I thought we settled down in the second half and we did some good things, but then just invented ways of giving them the ball back.
“Generally I thought we worked really hard again but we do find opportunities to help the opposition. I could see the tension in the players; they’re surrounded with it. They just need to calm down.
“Some of the things we’d practiced on the training field came off but you also need to be able to repeat the mundane things over and over again. There were spells when we didn’t do that.”
Ashall-Bott came into the side in place of Rhys Hanbury with cocaptain Chris Houston also back following the birth of his son.