Halifax bank points in comfortable win
● HALIFAX .............................................. 40 WIDNES VIKINGS .............................. 10
Fax doubled their lead when a Murrell kick found its way into touch after being played at by Brand, giving the hosts another scrum deep inside the Vikings half.
They took advantage once again, with Adam Tangata charging onto an Elliott Morris offload to score beneath the posts.
On 25 minutes, Widnes were 18 points down as Patrick Ah Van spilled a Murrell bomb into the path of Chester Butler, who scooped up possession for a simple score.
James Saltonstall dropped the kickoff to give the Vikings their first real attacking opportunity, and they made it count as Danny Craven’s flat pass sent Sam Wilde through a gap, with the back rower reaching out and finding the line.
Widnes worked their way back into the contest five minutes later, as Shaun Robinson’s offload found its way into the hands of Jordan Johnstone, who gladly accepted the gift to set the visitors on the attack.
After working their way into a dangerous position, the ball was shipped left where Jack Owens fired a pass to Hatton, who raced over on his return to action.
A knock on from Jacob Fairbank gave the Vikings one final opportunity of the half with two minutes left on the clock, but Craven’s grubber was dealt with by Halifax, who headed to the sheds with an eight-point advantage.
Fax extended their lead four minutes after the break, as they managed to manoeuvre a break through the middle, with some great support play ending with Brandon Moore diving over under the sticks.
The Vikings had a golden opportunity to reply, as Tom Gilmore’s kick in behind was hacked into the in-goal by Olly Ashall-Bott, forcing a goal-line drop out. A high tackle on Gilmore led to another set inside the Halifax 20, only for Walker to knock on attempting a quick play the ball.
After not taking their chance, Halifax made the Vikings pay when Ben Kavanagh broke through the defence, finding an offload which led to Murrell send Tyrer over for his second of the afternoon.
PW Toronto Wolfpack 21 20 York .................... 21 14 Toulouse ............. 21 14 Leigh .................. 21 14 Featherstone ....... 21 13 Bradford ............. 21 12 Sheffield ............. 21 12 Halifax ................ 21 9 Swinton .............. 21 7 Batley ................. 21 6 Widnes ............... 21 12 Dewsbury ............ 20 5 Barrow ................ 21 4 Rochdale ............. 20 1 D 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 L F A Pts 1 751 291 40 6 497 384 29 7 649 356 28 7 594 406 28 8 590 377 26 8 481 430 25 9 610 514 24 12 456 561 18 13 435 630 15 14 368 538 13 9 525 434 12 14 387 542 11 16 379 639 9 19 280 900 2
Opportunities were few and far between, and with nine minutes remaining Ashall-Bott created a golden chance, as he tipped Gilmore’s kick over the head of Saltonstall, although he knocked on trying to regather possession over the try line.
Up the other end of the field, Halifax hammered the final nail in the Widnes coffin, as Tangata looked to have knocked on, only for the referee to rule that Ah Van had knocked the ball from his grasp. As he called play on, Butler picked up possession to complete his brace from close range.
Butler then stole the ball from Chris Dean in the final play of the game, crossing untouched to complete his hat-trick and consign Widnes to a disappointing away defeat that does nothing to ease those lingering relegation fears.