Hull KR 31 Widnes Vikings 12

VIKINGS suffered a cruel defeat at the hands of promoted Hull Kingston Rovers.

Denis Betts’ side were leading 12-10 before being forced to play out the final 29 minutes without any substitutes.

Four players exited the game with injuries, including debutant Keanan Brand with a badly broken leg after only six minutes.

He was followed off the field in the first half by Danny Craven (28mins) and Wellington Albert (34mins) with head injuries, while Gil Dudson had to be helped off the field 11 minutes into the second half.

But with the third game in nine days impacting on players’ fatigue levels it meant having no rotations available in the latter stages of the game told on Vikings’ surviving 13.

Ed Chamberlain had kicked a penalty to give Vikings a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of scrappy play and fought back after falling behind to tries from Justin Carney and Andrew Heffernan, the latter converted by Ryan Shaw.

And then Widnes finished the first half strongly forcing repeats sets.

Rovers found themselves down to 12 men following Chris Clarkson's yellow card for a dangerous tackle on Rhys Hanbury.

From the resulting penalty, Widnes moved the ball down field and switched play to the right for Ryan Ince to score in the right hand corner.

On their next set, Vikings regained the lead when Joe Mellor made the most of Clarkson's absence in Rovers' defensive line to score and Chamberlain converted.

That is how it stayed until after Vikings’ fourth injury victim, Dudson, left the field.

The two-point lead disappeared when Shaw kicked his second goal.

As Widnes battled fatigue, Rovers showed no mercy, turning a penalty into six points.

Danny Tickle scored against his former club and Shaw booted the extras.

Danny McGuire, back after missing Hull KR's Easter defeats to Hull and Wigan, dropped a goal 11 minutes from time to give the home side a seven-point cushion.

James Greenwood made sure of victory by taking McGuire's pass to go over from close range.

In the final minute, Carney rounded off the scoring after Maurice Blair's 40-metre break.

Despite everything, Betts felt his side should have done better after making a promising start to the game.

"In the first half we didn't take a couple of opportunities," he said.

"But we ran out of steam.

"I feel really bad for Keanan. He makes his debut and breaks his leg, quite badly too. It's not a nice start for him after only two touches of the ball.

"We had some chances to build some pressure, but we don't.

"We had to reshuffle with the injuries so to come out and show some energy like we did was telling.

"We were finding our feet, finding a way into the game.

"You need to take opportunities when you come here to keep the crowd quiet and get some momentum.

"The score doesn't reflect the effort we put in."