THE Vikings now look almost certain to be destined for a Middle 8 relegation battle following their 34-20 defeat at Castleford Tigers.

A hat-trick for Tigers winger Denny Solomona, a man who has caused Widnes trouble in the past, was the highlight for the home side but the Vikings will particularly rue a very slow start.

Some sloppy defence in the first half put them behind the eight ball at 18-0 down and although they fought manfully from that point on, the damage had been done.

In terms of territory and possession there didn't look to be that much between the two teams in the early minutes.

However, the Vikings goalline defence left a lot to be desired.

Twice they were badly caught out on their left hand side allowing Solomona to cross for a quickfire brace with relative ease.

Scrum-half Luke Gale converted both scores to give the Tigers a 12-0 lead.

The Vikings threatened to pull a try back but winger Jack Owens just failed to latch on to Tom Gilmore's chip to the corner.

Castleford's third try of the afternoon was a real body blow for Widnes and came in the softest possible manner.

A couple of dummy half-runs took the ball from half-way to within a couple of metres of the Widnes line. From there centre Jake Webster almost apologetically reached over from the next play-the-ball to touch down.

Luke Gale's third conversion made it 18-0.

It was beginning to look like a rout might be on the cards but credit to the Vikings who steeled themselves and hit back on the half hour.

It came courtesy of a long pass from Gilmore which allowed Owens just enough space to squeeze past Solomona wide out. Owens couldn't add the extras but the Tigers found themselves temporarily down to 12 men as Webster was sin-binned for dissent.

Widnes continued to press and on 36 minutes second row Chris Clarkson burst onto a short ball to touch down with Owens converting.

Denis Betts' team may well have settled for an 18-10 half-time deficit but were hit by a sucker punch when Tigers substitute Matt Cook powered over from close range for a six pointer.

The first score of the second half would have been handy for Widnes but it came the Tigers way when Justin Carney latched onto a kick to the corner with Gale once more adding the extras to make it 30-10.

On 51 minutes, Gilmore pulled a converted try back when he followed up his own short range grubber-kick to score and when Macgraff Leuluai crashed in seven minutes later a chink of light opened up at 30-20.

However, a game that started in the summer sun was now being played in the pouring rain and the Vikings attempts to play catch-up football floundered on the back of handling errors.

It was Solomona who had the last word when he squeezed over at the corner from a Webster pass.

Castleford: Dorn; Solomona, Webster, Shenton, Carney; Finn, Gale; Lynch, Milner, Millington, Holmes, McMeeken, Massey. Subs: Roberts, Cook, Moors, Springer.

Widnes: Hanbury; Flynn, Craven, Dean, Owens; Gilmore, Mellor; Gerrard, Heremaia, Manuokafoa, Clarkson, Galea, Cahill. Subs: Isa, Leuluai, Dudson, O'Carroll.

Half-Time: 24-10.

Referee: J Cobb.

Attendance: 7,002.