11:09am Friday 30th July 2010
WIDNES suffered their second loss in the space of five days as they went down 30-16 to Halifax at the Shay.
The defeat, and the failure to register a bonus point, means the Vikings remain outside the play-off zone in the Co-operative Championship with just four regular season games remaining.
The bonus point seemed to be within the Vikings' grasp when they were awarded a penalty 25 metres from the Halifax posts in the dying minutes.
A successful goal would have brought them back to within the required 12 points.
But for reasons best known to themselves, Widnes shunned the opportunity and chose to run the ball.
It may prove to be a doubly costly error of judgement.
A brawl erupted from the ensuing play which was put 'on report' by referee Mr Drizza and further action may well follow.
After some tit-for-tat early exchanges the Vikings took the lead when a Mark Smith drop-off saw loose-forward Ben Kavanagh bulldoze his way to the line.
On twenty minutes the lead was increased when Paddy Flynn squeezed over wide out, Smith again the provider.
Fullback Danny Draven added the extras to both scores to make it 12-0.
Halifax hit back on the half hour when hooker Sean Penkywicz tricked his way over fron a tap penalty on the Widnes line.
And the home side got back on level terms when livewire fullback Shad Royston found a huge hole in the Vikings rearguard and Lee Paterson goaled.
A half-time scoreline of 12-12 suggested all was to play for but Halifax came out after the break looking the more purposeful team.
Stand-off Luke Branighan nudged them ahead after profiting from centre Dylan Nash's late offload with Paterson once again accurate with the boot.
Thomas Coyle had a try ruled out for a knock-on for the Vikings before Fax went further ahead when Penkywicz backed up for his second try.
A Paterson penalty made it 26-12 but Widnes got back within bonus point territory when Dean Gaskell somehow squeezed over on the left.
Unfortunately, Widnes couldn't keep their line intact at the other end and Penkywicz completed a hat-trick by hacking forward a loose-ball and pouncing in the in-goal.
The last few minutes saw Widnes refuse their potential penalty-goal lifeline and Gaskell and Nash were singled out as the instigators of the brawl and sin-binned.
Widnes: Craven (2g); Flynn (1t), Marsh, Gardner, Gaskell (1t); Gerrard, Coyle; Gannon, Smith, Heckenberg, Allen, Haggerty, Kavanagh (1t). Subs: Houghton, Kelly, Netherton, Pickersgill.
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