Birkenhead Park Colts 17 Widnes Colts 17 (From Runcorn and Widnes World)

Birkenhead Park Colts 17 Widnes Colts 17

11:03am Friday 14th October 2011 in Sport

Widnes travelled through the Mersey Tunnel with the bare 15 players, a number of them playing in unfamiliar positions and came away with a creditable draw against a much bigger and stronger opponent. The Heath Road youngsters had trouble throughout in the set scrum, Park taking around a dozen strikes against the head which denied Widnes scoring opportunities on more than one occasion. Park raced into an early lead, the Wids responded, Tom Beech dummying and jinking his way over from 20 metres. Park regained the lead after taking a ball against the head in the Wids 22. The second half saw Widnes play into a strong wind and went further behind in the opening five minutes as Park moved the ball through their threequarters to score an excellent try. At this stage the Wids youngsters could easily have given up and allowed Park to run away with the victory but showed great character and grit to get back into the game. 15 minutes from time Josh Argent threw out a lovely looping ball to Josh McGinty who beat two men to score from 25 metres. From the restart Park pressured the Wids and were held up on two occasions over the try line, Cook, Watson, Reynolds, Mercer and number 8 Thompson pulling off try saving tackles. With only two minutes remaining Widnes launched an attack deep in their own 22, Beech releasing Argent who stepped and off loaded to the supporting McGinty who jinked and weaved past five would be Park tacklers and scored the try of the game that covered 90 metres. Geoff Cook was awarded man of the match after a fantastic effort in defence. Widnes entertain Tarleton at Heath Road on Sunday 2.00pm kick off.