FOR the second time this season, Widnes gave up a healthy half-time against Wigan as they went down 32-24 at Halton Stadium.

An 18-4 interval advantage just wasn’t enough as Shaun Wane’s men stormed back to take the spoils.

Nobody could doubt the gameness of the effort from Denis Betts’ team who were again missing a host of first-teamers, Widnes boss Denis Betts made several changes to the side that thrashed Coventry Bears six days earlier.

Leeds Rhinos loanee Jimmy Keinhorst was selected for his debut in the left centre position with forward Hep Cahill returning after a long injury lay-off.

Prop Greg Burke was also back in harness to face his former club.

Wigan started the game on the front foot and went close when scrum-half Sam Powell was held up over the line.

On seven minutes, Patrick Ah Van intercepted on his own line but was caught by the covering Joe Burgess after a 60-metre dash and the move fizzled out.

Wigan went back up the other end and centre Oliver Gildart crashed in from close range to make it 4-0.

It had largely been one-way traffic for the first quarter of an hour but against the run of play a cross-kick caused havoc in the visitors’ defence and the ball was smuggled to loose forward Tom Olbison who went over with Tom Gilmore’s goal giving the Vikings a 6-4 lead.

Widnes went close to extending their lead but Burke lost the ball as he went for glory and Gilmore looked a certain scorer but was held up on last tackle.

It was breathless stuff interspersed with a fair sprinkling of penalties either way.

On 34 minutes, Danny Craven rolled a kick over the Warriors line and substitute forward Jay Chapelhow pounced for a six-pointer to increase his side’s lead to 12-4.

Wigan hooker Tommy Leuluai was sin-binned after obstructing Olbison as he chased a clever Gilmore reverse kick with Widnes fans calling for an obstruction try.

As it happened, it mattered little as from the resulting penalty, quick hands from Rhys Hanbury and Ed Chamberlain put Ryan Ince over in the right corner with Gilmore goalling superbly.

A frantic first half came to an end with Widnes being pulled back for a forward pass as Craven raced away leaving the score at 18-4 in the Vikings favour.

Wigan came out firing after half-time and a couple of repeat sets ended with Burgess diving in on the left to pull four points back on 49 minutes before fullback Morgan Escare raced away to the posts from half-way side-stepping Hanbury on the way. Powell added the extras and it was game on at 18-14.

It became three tries in five minutes when ex-Viking Willi Isa charged over from a George Williams short ball and gave his team a 20-18 lead.

A high shot on Hanbury allowed Gilmore to level things up with a penalty with 20 minutes remaining.

Handling errors were creeping into the Vikings’ game.

A fortuitous wave-on of a set of six allowed Wigan to retake the lead on 72 minutes when powerful forward Ryan Sutton barged in for a converted score.

A long delay as Burgess was helped from the field with a leg injury seemed to break Wigan’s concentration and swift ball movement saw Hanbury put Ince over for his second try but Gilmore pulled his conversion wide to leave Widnes trailing 26-24 with five minutes left.

Credit to Wigan who didn’t close the game down and Taulima Tautai made the game safe when he bulldozed through under the posts.

Widnes: Hanbury; Ince, Keinhorst, Chamberlain, Ah Van; Craven, Gilmore; Gerrard, White, Burke, Whitley, Wilde, Olbison. Subs: Leuluai, Johnstone, Cahill, J Chapelhow.

Wigan: Escare; Marshall, Sarginson, Gildart, Burgess; Williams, Powell; Clubb, Leuluai, Navarette, Sutton, Isa, O’Loughlin. Subs: Ganson, J Tomkins, Hamlin, Tautai.

Half-time: 18-4 Referee: Mr B Thaler Attendance: 5,668