Wids seal semi spot with resilient show
The visitors looked well out of sorts in the face of Oldham’s direct and enthusiastic approach, and it took a couple of strategic changes from the bench with the introduction of Sam Whitty and Mike Garrity to slowly begin to turn the tide.
The visitors’ first priority was a return to a full complement of players on the pitch.
Then the aim was to see out the remainder of the half without any further damage on the scoreboard.
They did, in fact, manage to go one better than that.
A break from Arnie Haydock proved to be the catalyst for Widnes to get back on level terms with a converted try from Andy Owens.
And they should really have scored again just two minutes later only for the ball to be spilled in the act of scoring.
Despite that, Widnes were back on level terms – perhaps not deservedly
– meaning it would be all to play for in the second half.
Happy enough to still be in the game at this point, Widnes suffered another immediate blow as talisman forward Tom O’Neill limped off to join captain Kevin Leadbetter on the sidelines.
But Widnes got their noses in front for the first time when Andy Owens converted a penalty to make it 13-10.
On 48 minutes, another well struck Owens penalty attempt hit the upright and bounced clear.
Just five minutes later Liam Lawton finished off a fine move involving backs and forwards with a try wide out, before the normal service of Owens’ trusty boot was resumed with another successful conversion.
After that, it was all about Oldham as they desperately sought a way back into the contest.
But they were chasing the game now and began to make some errors of their own. On top of that, the Wids’ scrambling defence was excellent at times and they continued to repel anything that the home side could throw at them.
In the end, it took another yellow card – which then turned into a red – to give Oldham an opportunity, and they took full advantage as John Souter crashed over for a close range try.
The quickly taken conversion attempt was also successful to narrow the gap to three points.
Sadly, though, there just wasn’t enough time for the home side to get the final try they needed to secure a last gasp win, and the Wids managed to see out the closing moments before claiming a hard, but well earned victory and a place in the semi-finals.
Head coach Andy McIntosh said afterwards: “This was a different game to last week on a heavy pitch.
“We didn’t really get going, picked up a few knocks and the yellow cards halted any progress.
“Positively, we managed to regroup, deal with what was thrown at us and just got over the line”.
He continued: “I was very impressed with the resilience the players showed today and all three lads on the bench came on and put in a shift after lots of interchanges during the game in key positions.
“This was a team effort from 1-18 and we learnt a bit more about the desire this team has”.
In the other senior matches, the second team’s game at Lymm was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch, but the third team did their survival hopes a world of good with a victory at Waterloo in Division Four West.
The challenges continue to come thick and fast for the Widnes senior XV with another away fixture at Didsbury Toc H on Saturday (2.15pm).