WIDNES suffered a record eleventh successive league defeat as they went down 44-22 to Wakefield Trinity at the Mobile Rocket Stadium.

The loss leaves the Vikings firmly stick at the bottom of the Betfred Super League table and makes it all but mathematically certain they will face the ordeal of the Qualifiers at the end of the regular season.

Vikings coach Francis Cummins made several changes to the side that lost to Salford Red Devils ten days earlier.

Centre Krisnan Inu returned for his first game since breaking his leg at Warrington on Good Friday, Olly Ashall-Bott came in at fullback with Stefan Marsh back on the wing after recovering from a virus.

In the forwards, prop Gil Dudson was back in harness after a lengthy absence with Macgraff Leuluai, Sam Wilde and Danny Walker claiming bench spots.

The game was played in searing heat and the opening exchanges were cagey with both sides struggling for fluency in attack.

A Wakefield 40/20 gave them field-position but right winger Ben Jones-Bishop couldn’t take a low pass with the line open.

The Vikings went close to opening the scoring on 15 minutes but Ashall-Bott lost the ball as he went for the posts.

On their next possession, Trinity freed left flank flyer Tom Johnstone who turned the Widnes defence inside-out on a 70 metre run to score.

The home side increased their lead to 10-0 half way through the opening period when Jones-Bishop out-jumped Charly Runciman to claim a cross-kick with James Batchelor adding the goal.

Things really started to look bleak for the Vikings when opposition centre Bill Tupou sauntered through a huge gap to make it 16-0 and a series of handling errors further increased the pressure.

Five minutes before the break, a speculative kick through bounced awkwardly and found its way into the hand of Trinity centre Reece Lyne who crossed for his team’s fourth try and they took a 22-0 lead into half-time.

Weak tackling allowed Tupou in for his second six-pointer two minutes after the restart and the travelling Vikings fans had cause to fear the worst.

To most people’s surprise, Widnes hit back on 47 minutes when quick hands sent Marsh flying in at the left corner to pull four points back.

Normal service was resumed when Trinity back-rower Batchelor bulldozed in from close range to make it 32-4.

The Vikings proved they hadn’t thrown the towel in when Walker tricked his way over from dummy-half with Tom Gilmore adding the extras on 58 minutes.

A flat ball from Walker allowed Alex Gerrard to crash over to bring the score back to a flattering 32-16 with 12 minutes remaining.

Any thoughts of an unlikely comeback were snuffed out when Wakefield substitute Tinirau Arona profited after the Vikings failed to deal with a Jacob Miller kick to the posts.

The see-saw scoring continued as Weller Hauraki put Ryan Ince over on the right with Gilmore converting superbly making the score 38-22 on 73 minutes.

Trinity ended the argument with three minutes remaining when Lyne raced 30 metres for his second try to complete the scoring at 44-22.

Wakefield: Jowitt, Jones-Bishop, Lyne, Tupou, Johnstone; Miller, Hampshire; Hirst, Randell, England, Kirmond, Ashurst, Batchelor. Subs: Wood, Pauli, Arona, Fifita.

Widnes: Ashall-Bott; Ince, Inu, Runciman, Marsh; Mellor, Gilmore; J Chapelhow, Heremaia, Dudson, Whitley, Hauraki, Gerrard. Subs: Leuluai, Wilde, D Walker, T Chapelhow.

Half-time: 22-0.