TWO tries from winger Ed Chamberlain against his hometown club weren’t enough to stop Widnes going down to a 32-18 defeat at local rivals Warrington.

The Vikings gave as good as they got in the first half and went into the interval with a two point lead but found the Wolves in irresistible form after the break.

It was all Warrington in the opening ten minutes with Widnes unable to gain any possession.

That said, the Vikings goalline defence was outstanding and they kept the Wolves at bay.

On 12 minutes and very much against the run of play, smart passing to the left by Widnes allowed Chamberlain to squeeze in at the left corner to make it 4-0.

A Tom Gilmore break put the Vikings on the front foot again and Charly Runciman’s lovely back-door pass put Chamberlain over again with Krisnan Inu goalling superbly from the touchline.

The Wolves might have wondered how they’d found themselves 10-0 down but they were invited into opposition territory when Widnes coughed up possession from an attempted short drop-out.

Warrington centre Toby King was the beneficiary as the Vikings ran out of numbers on their left edge.

On 32 minutes, King was in again with Widnes slow to react to Kevin Brown’s chip into the in-goal. Bryson Goodwin added the extras to level things up at 10-10.

Some midfield mis-coordination saw the Wolves concede an obstruction penalty which Inu slotted over from 38 metres to give the Vikings a 12-10 interval lead.

The Vikings were hit by a sucker punch immediately after the restart.

A Brown bomb was allowed to bounce and ended up in the hands of Wolves debutant Josh Charnley who did well to force his way over at the right hand flag with Goodwin’s goal giving his side a 16-12 lead.

Widnes lost Inu to injury when he twisted after catching a cross-field kick and Warrington were quickly on the attack again but Brown knocked on 10 metres short of the tryline.

The Vikings created a chance when Rhys Hanbury brilliantly caught a Joe Mellor bomb but his speculative pass found a Warrington defender.

Perhaps the key try came from Wolves substitute Sitaleki Akauola and it came in fairly bizarre circumstances as the ball was charged down twice but ricocheted back into Warrington hands and finished with a try under the posts.

Charnley’s second try in the corner after quick hands more or less sealed the game and Ben Westwood’s effort on 68 minutes confirmed as much at 32-12.

Widnes proved they hadn’t given up as Hanbury did well to take a Sam Wilde offload for a consolation six-pointer.

Warrington: Ratchford; Charnley, T King, Goodwin, Lineham; Brown, Roberts; Hill, Clark, Cooper, Currie, Hughes, Westwood. Subs: Smith, Akauola, Murdoch-Masila, Philbin.

Widnes: Hanbury; Marsh, Inu, Runciman, Chamberlain; Mellor, Gilmore; Burke, Heremaia, T Chapelhow, Dean, Wilde, Houston. Subs: Johnstone, Dudson, B Walker, Olbison.

Attendance: 12,175