WIDNES fell to their seventh consecutive Super League defeat as they went down 24-10 to Hull Kingston Rovers at the KC Lightsream Stadium.

As well as their playing opponents, the Vikings had a more emotional than usual home crowd to cope with.

The recent death of rugby league and Hull KR legend Roger Millward was commemorated before kick-off and an attendance of 7,500 watched a game delayed by 13 minutes.

To say Widnes were a bit slow out of the blocks would probably be an understatement.

Rovers dominated the early exchanges and hit the front when hooker Shaun Lunt sneaked up the blindside with both markers going AWOL. Ben Cockayne goaled to give the home side a 6-0 lead.

There were two more near-misses for Rovers before the Vikings exerted some pressure of their own.

Charly Runciman knocked-on over the Rovers line as he tried to ground Aaron Heremaia's grubber-kick and winger Ed Chamberlain couldn't evade fullback Cockayne after being set free by Runciman.

Both sides were guilty of being over-eager to offload at times with the error count rising as a result.

On 32 minutes Widnes went close again from another Heremaia kick but referee Robert Hicks ruled Setaimata Sa had failed to ground the ball and Rhys Hanbury was stopped short just moments later.

A largely forgettable first half closed at 6-0 in Rovers favour.

Hull KR doubled their lead just two minutes into the second period when Albert Kelly put winger Ken Sio over after catching Maurice Blair's bomb on the full.

Widnes enjoyed four consecutive sets on the opposition line but couldn't find the killer pass and for the second time in the match Hanbury was denied by a last-ditch tackle.

The Vikings finally opened their account on 58 minutes when Joe Mellor sent the hard-working Gil Dudson crashing in with Hanbury's conversion making it 12-6.

Just when it looked like Denis Betts' men were getting a measure of control, Lunt broke clear from inside his own half and sent James Greenwood striding over to restore Rovers' 12-point advantage on 63 minutes.

The Vikings roared straight back to the other end and after Runciman and Chamberlain had made inroads, Corey Thompson scored wide on the right from Hanbury's short kick to make it 18-10.

When Heremaia's pass went astray seven minutes from time it was hacked on by Blair and Kelly followed up to effectively seen the win for his team as he glided in for a six-pointer under the posts.

Widnes threw what they could at Rovers in the latter stages but the home side closed the game out at 24-10.

HULL KR: Cockayne; Sio, Minns, Horne, Wardill; Blair, Kelly; Tilse, Lunt, Walker, Greenwood, Donaldson, Allgood. Subs: Moran, Boudebza, Lawler, Green. Widnes: Hanbury; Thompson, Dean, Runciman, Chamberlain; Mellor, Heremaia; O'Carroll, White, Dudson, Houston, Whitley, Cahill. Subs: Johnstone, Manuokafoa, Sa, Leuluai.

Referee: R Hicks.

Half-time: 6-0 .

Attendance: 7,506.