To taming the Tigers
their face, opting for the short drop-out.
It did not work on this occasion, or any of the other three on which it was tried, with the Tigers ending up with possession in the Widnes ‘20’ each time.
However, despite a heap of pressure on their line, the Vikings kept Castleford at bay with some excellent scrambling defence.
Widnes made few incursions into the Tigers’ territory during the opening period, but in the circumstances would no doubt have settled for going into half-time with the scoreline blank.
Unfortunately, just before the interval, Cas centre Jake Webster engineered the space for winger Greg Minikin to cross on the right flank to give the home side a 4-0 advantage.
With the elements more in their favour, Widnes enjoyed better field position at the start of the second half and they hit back after forcing repeat sets on the opposition line.
Scrum-half Tom Gilmore was the architect of the score with a clever grubber-kick across the grain which allowed back-rower Matt Whitley to pounce and touch down. Gilmore’s successful goal gave the Vikings a 6-4 lead on 50 minutes.
Roared on by the home crowd, Cas tried everything they knew to hit back but were met by commit- ted defence.
Eventually, with 16 minutes remaining, the dam broke after Jamie Ellis’s bomb caused confusion in the Widnes ‘20’ and the ball was shipped wide for left winger Jy Hitchcox to cross with Luke Gale’s goal making it 10-6.
When Gale added a penalty goal and then slotted over a onepointer, it looked like the Vikings’ challenge may have evaporated,
But with seven minutes remaining, a smart bit of dummyhalf work by Walker allowed prop Jay Chapelhow to crash over by the posts to make it a one-point ball game.
The Tigers were rattled as Widnes poured forward but the ● conditions made engineering a clear cut chance difficult.
In the end, Gilmore twice attempted long range drop-goals but pulled both efforts wide under severe pressure.
It was a case of close but no cigar for Widnes but the travelling fans could be well pleased with the effort put in by their team.