Hodkinson bags brace but Whites defeated against ten men
WIDNES........................................................................................2 PONTEFRACT COLLIERIES .....................................................3
STEVE Akrigg was left scratching his head after Widnes let a two-goal lead slip at home to 10-man Pontefract Collieries, losing 3-2 at the Halton Stadium.
The Whites had led 2-0 on the hour-mark thanks to a Ben Hodkinson brace, but they would fall to a fifth defeat in six after three Pontefract goals in 25 minutes, including
Cody Cromack’s 90th minute winner direct from a corner.
Speaking after the game, Akrigg admitted that letting the lead slip was inexcusable.
“We’ve thrown the game away. We capitulated in 25 minutes,” Akrigg said.
“I thought that we did alright for 60 minutes. We were 2-0 up and it was better than it has been in the last couple of weeks, but we didn’t manage the game well enough after the sending off and ended up miles away from them in the end.
“We’ve conceded three soft goals and it looked as though they had the man advantage in the last 20 minutes.
“It seemed like we went into our shells after conceding. We looked dead on our feet against 10-men and that simply can’t be happening.”
Despite a positive 60-minute showing and lively debuts from James Murray and Rhain Hellawell, Akrigg admits that questions need to be asked after a run of six games without a win.
He said: “It’s annoying that the disappointing 25-minute spell clearly outweighs the positive showing inside an hour.
“I’m really disappointed. Myself and Kev (Towey) as well as the lads have to have a look at our ourselves and ask how we threw the game away at 2-0 up – it’s not the first time that’s happened this season.
“To be fair, it was much better than it has been in those opening 60 minutes. Ben (Hodkinson) scored two and could have had a couple more and I don’t think Owen (Wheeler) had too much to do.
“But for whatever reason, we seemed to blow our tank and heads seemed to drop which isn’t good enough.”
● Widnes: Wheeler, Roberts, Holden, Sheen, Shaw, Herbert, Murray (Steele 77), Hajdari, Ready (Buckley 90), Hodkinson, Hellawell (Chukwu 67)
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