FULL TIME: Warrington Wolves 16 Widnes Vikings 0

Denis Betts blooded new arrivals Aaron Heremaia, Chris Clarkson and Manase Manuokafoa in a Widnes side whose defence was only beaten during the three occasions they were down to 12 men.

Ben Currie scored twice in the first half as Wolves capitalised on first Cameron Phelps and then Manuokafoa finding themselves in the sin bin.

Toby King continued the scoring while Widnes were again a player short, Joe Mellor being the third man shown yellow.

Widnes showed some early nerves when failing to deal with a Gareth O’Brien bomb, but Paddy Flynn was eventually able to gather and relieve some of the pressure.

It came after Wolves new boy Ashton Sims had got his first taste of the ball in primrose and blue, crashing between two tacklers and making good yards two minutes in.

Moments later was another dropped ball in the Widnes defence and another tackle-breaker by Sims after a dancing Gene Ormsby run.

The visitors kept Wolves at bay and started to settle in to the fixture, but Kevin Brown, not named in the original squad, put a little too much on his grubber and Matty Russell saw out the danger.

With nine minutes played Russell spotted a gap and broke from his own half, finding Gary Wheeler in support and the centre in turn passed on to Vikings old boy Kevin Penny.

Phelps slowed the play the ball down and was shown an early yellow card, which Wolves capitalised on immediately as Gareth O’Brien fed Currie at close range and he crashed over. Another former Vikings man O’Brien added the extras.

Wheeler, who had shown good support play in the build up to Wolves’ opener, was nearly presented another chance but was unable to gather when intercepting Clarkson’s lofted pass.

Betts will no doubt be calling his side in for catching practice before their next friendly outing at St Helens, as the Wolves high ball continued to cause them problems.

This time is was Patrick Ah Van who spilled a diagonal Richie Myler kick that spiralled in the wind before the winger fumbled into Anthony England’s path.

Widnes, back to a full complement after serving the 10 minutes without Phelps, hung on as England was repelled by their scrambling defence.

Wolves were guilty of some juggling of their own as O’Brien skidded on the surface and Russell was unable to hang on.

It handed Vikings their first real chance to break, but as Phelps committed the final Wolves defender his pass was too far in front of Ah Van and went over the touchline, when the winger would have had a free run at the line.

With 15 minutes of the half remaining things began to hot up, as Manuokafoa felt aggrieved by an England tackle.

Moments later and the new arrival, who had started as a substitute, saw his first appearance in black and white interrupted as a late hit on O’Brien resulted in him being the second Vikings player heading to the sin bin.

With Wolves again looking to make their numerical advantage count it was Rhys Evans who opened his legs to find a gap, before Jack Owens read the Welshman’s side step.

Tony Smith’s side quickly had the ball back in hand, though, and it was whipped wide to the hosts’ left where Currie added his second from close range. O’Brien converted.

At the other end, with 37 minutes played,Mellor was the architect as Vikings attempted to get a foothold before the break, moving the ball along the line before Paddy Flynn fumbled.

Penny attempted a spectacular dive to touch down in the opposite corner with a minute remaining of the half, but was adjudged to have gone into touch.

Wolves started the second period the brighter and a miss pass to Myler on the right allowed the half back enough space to release Evans.

The winger scampered along the line before releasing the supporting Ormsby, who was stopped short of the Widnes line.

On the other flank a pass from half time replacement Stefan Ratchford was deemed to be forward, despite Penny showing neat footballing skills to volley and collect.

Phelps was not to be outdone on the showboating front as he smartly flicked on Grant Gore’s pass with one hand, but it came to no avail for Vikings as Ah Van was unable to collect.

With 57 minutes played O’Brien intercepted a Widnes pass close to his own line and almost made it to the visitors’ line before being tracked down by Mellor.

Mellor refused to release the half back, slowing down the play the ball and under the new RFL directives referee Child had no choice but to issue a third sin bin.

From the restart, Wolves worked the ball right to Ratchford only for the England international’s chipped kick to bounce beyond Ormsby’s reach in the corner.

Each sin-binning for Widnes handed Warrington a period of domination, but the visitors held on when first youngster George King broke the line and then Myler waltzed past two tacklers.

Currie was next to be set free, but with men on the overlap the forward opted for an ambitious grubber and Widnes recovered to gather.

But after a clever Sims offload set up another Wolves break Vikings’ defence eventually folded. Wheeler, who had moved to stand off, threw a long pass to Toby King and he dived over in the corner. Ratchford could not add the extras from wide out.

Vikings, despite defending resolutely, with a man less for long periods offered little in attack in the second half.

The closest they came was from a Clarkson charge but Wolves got bodies in the way to keep a clean sheet.

Vikings: Jack Owens; Patrick Ah Van, Cameron Phelps, Stefan Marsh, Paddy Flynn; Kevin Brown, Joe Mellor; Phil Joseph, Aaron Heremaia, Ben Kavanagh, Chris Dean, Chris Clarkson, Hep Cahill. Subs: Brad Walker, Declan Hulme, Danny Craven, Grant Gore, Alex Gerrard, Manase Manuokafoa, Lloyd White, Macgraff Leuluai, Ted Chapelhow, Matt Whitley.

Wolves: Matty Russell; Gene Ormsby, Rhys Evans, Gary Wheeler, Kevin Penny; Gareth O’Brien, Richie Myler; Ashton Sims, Micky Higham, Anthony England, James Laithwaite, Ben Currie, George King. Subs: Ben Westwood, Stefan Ratchford, Ben Harrison, Toby King, Declan Patton, Roy Asotasi, Joe Philbin, Andy Ackers, Tom Walker, Joel Monaghan.