Dominant display reaps bonus point
WIDNES travelled to Fleetwood for only their third ADM Premier League game of the new season and came away with a valuable bonus point victory.
The game wasn’t always pretty – the wretched weather conditions made sure of that - but at this stage of the fledgling new campaign, any win, particularly one away from home, is a massive achievement.
Fleetwood got the fixture under way and were soon back in possession of the football, but the wet and windy conditions made control of the greasy ball difficult.
As a result, highlights in the first forty minutes were difficult to come by.
Both sides had opportunities – Gavin Hatton, Liam Lawton and Arnie Haydock all made half breaks for the Wids, and Fleetwood too, had some chances, but they were comfortably dealt with by the visitors’ defence.
The red-and-blacks also suffered a couple of injuries with Liam Lawton and then Matty Walker leaving the field forcing a midfield reshuffle as the half drew to a close.
Despite that, the Wids finished the half strongly although neither team had been able to trouble the scoreboard operator as the whistle sounded for half time.
With the blustery conditions and the slope now in their favour, the visitors started the half with renewed vigour and enthusiasm.
They had an early chance to finally open their account early in the piece, but Andy Owens pulled his penalty kick wide of the target in the blustery conditions.
That disappointment wouldn’t last too long, though, as a line-out move plucked straight from the training paddock, saw Ryan Stokes crash over from close range for the opening score.
The visitors looked to have much more purpose, direction and urgency now and offering their opponents little or no attacking opportunities. And, when they did have chances, they were dealt with comfortably by the Wids defence.
Indeed, it did not come as any real surprise then, when on 51 minutes, more decent attacking work saw a quick, long cut out pass from Kevin Leadbetter, find arch poacher Aaron Duggan who crossed on the opposite flank to double their advantage.
At 10 – nil, the lead perhaps still wasn’t enough, but when ‘Mr Versatile’ Tom Spencer – who had started off at wing forward before moving into the centre – crossed for their third try, the visitors were now able to start breathing a little easier.
Any chance Fleetwood had of mounting a late rear-guard action was then lost after they had a man sent to the sin-bin. Kevin Leadbetter then kicked a penalty for the visitors to increase their advantage to 18 points.
With the final outcome now assured, it was left to prop forward and top try scorer Arnie Haydock to crash over for his third try of the campaign to wrap up the result. Kevin Leadbetter added the awkward conversion to provide a bonus point victory.
A delighted head coach Andy McIntosh said “Game management in the second half won us the points today.
“In the first half, we played into a strong wind and were delighted to turnaround all square. After half-time some well executed kicks deep into Fleetwood’s half put them under pressure, and from that we built a platform to score tries and get a bonus point win. We picked up a few knocks today but hopefully the lads will be ready to go again next week”.
● WIDNES supporters should be aware that the next home game with Liverpool St Helens at Heath Road has been brought forward and will now take place tomorrow night under floodlights.
The red-and-blacks have agreed to the change because St Helens RLFC are playing in the Grand Final the following day.
The ‘Moss Laners’ have made a positive start to the new campaign, winning their first three matches, before missing out on their own local bragging rights last weekend after losing at home to West Park who continued their own run of good run form. Games between the two sides are always close affairs, and another titanic struggle is expected once again. With both sides having now lost a game each and leaders Didsbury remaining unbeaten, this will be a game that neither side cannot afford to lose.
The game kicks off at 7.30pm.