7:43pm Sunday 28th February 2010
TWENTY year-old centre Shane Grady helped himself to 32 points as Widnes demolished Keighley 72-10 at Stobart Stadium Halton.
Grady's haul consisted of three tries and ten conversions and he was joined by another hat-trick hero in the shape of right centre Dean Thompson.
Those two were amongst several players to impress in Paul Cullen's side for whom James Webster and Anthony Thackeray pulled the strings impressively.
Another worth a mention was the outstanding Liam Farrell who tormented the Cougars defence with his strong running.
Five tries in the opening half hour effectively ended the match as a contest.
Grady, Matt Gardner, Thompson, Dave Allen and Farrell all crossed to give Widnes a 28-0 lead.
Left winger Gavin Duffy pulled a six-pointer back for the Cougars but it was brief respite.
Just before the interval Grady danced through some weak tackling for his second try to make it 34-6.
The second half was always likely to be a case of how many the Vikings would get and the answer was plenty.
Grady sold a dummy to glide over for his hat-trick on 45 minutes and Thompson twice crashed in wide out to complete his own treble.
A well worked try from Craig Moss pulled four points back for the visitors to make it 50-10 on 63 minutes but Widnes were soon back in the driving seat.
Thackeray's inside ball set fullback Scott yates free and he found Thomas Coyle in support to score at the posts.
Richard Varkulis, playing on the right wing, proved too big and strong for the opposition from close range for the next score before Thackeray sold a couple of outrageous dummies to register a well-deserved touchdown.
Yates finished things off when he ghosted through from 20 metres.
The Vikings could scarcely have made a more impressive start to the 2010 Co-operative Championship and thirteen tries to two is a fair reflection of their utter dominance of this match.
Certainly there are tougher tests to follow, Sheffield away in a fortnights time being one of them.
But with several first-teamers sat in the stands, coach Cullen will be pleased with the progress his team is making.
Widnes: Yates (1t); Varkulis (1t), Thompson (3t), Grady (3t,10g), Gardner (1t); Thackeray (1t), Webster; Kavanagh, Smith, Gannon, Farrell (1t), Doran, Allen (1t). Subs: Coyle (1t), Gerrard, Davies, Houghton.
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