Salford City Reds 8 Widnes Vikings 46 (From Runcorn and Widnes World)

Salford City Reds 8 Widnes Vikings 46

10:36am Sunday 22nd July 2012 in Vikings news

IT took a while in coming, but it was certainly worth waiting for.

Widnes finally broke their away hoodoo with a comprehensive 46-8 demolition of Salford City Reds.

Phil Veivers' side can have no complaints as Widnes ran in eight tries to two.

Every player in the Vikings line-up played his part but a special mention should go to half-back Rhys Hanbury who terrorised the City Reds defence with his electric pace, helping himself to two tries in the process.

Winger Patrick Ah Van and fullback Cameron Phelps also picked up a brace with Paul McShane and Danny Craven registering a try apiece.

The opening exchanges saw both sides struggling to unlock their opponents' defence.

When opportunities did arise they were quickly snuffed out by committed cover tackling.

Gradually, however, the Vikings began to take a stanglehold on the game.

Salford did well to repel a constant barrage on their own line but eventually they succumbed as Phelps broke a tackle to score at the posts on 23 minutes.

Once the dam was broken, the Vikings flooded through.

Ah Van scored the next after an attempted interception by Salford allowed him to swoop on the loose ball wide out, and he completed a quickfire double after following up McShane's intelligent chip to the corner.

The home side looked shell-shocked and conceded again just before half-time.

This time it was Hanbury who took advantage of a broken-field opportunity to scorch past former Vikings centre Sean Gleeson to cross from 60 metres out.

The same player added his fourth successful conversion to make it 24-0 at the break.

Salford started the second half brightly as another ex-Widnes man, Jordan James, broke clear but he was halted by superb cover defence.

Normal service was quickly resumed and more Vikings pressure saw McShane cross from close range.

On 50 minutes, Hanbury feigned to kick on last tackle but instead sliced through before sending the fast supporting Phelps over for his second try.

Just two minutes later and Hanbury broke clear yet again, this time from deep in his own half.

Realising he had no support, the Australian pinned his ears back and took City Reds fullback Luke Patten on the outside, just outstripping him to the left corner.

He missed his first conversion of the night but at 40-0 the game was up for Salford.

They did manage to pull a couple of scores back through Ashley Gibson and Danny Williams but it was only fitting Widnes had the last word.

With the City Reds ever more desperate to keep the ball alive, substitute Danny Craven picked of an interception and sprinted fifty metres to score.

Hanbury added his seventh goal.

It was Widnes's first away win in Super League since a 34-14 victory over Leigh in June 2005.

But at their current rate of improvement, Vikikngs fans shouldn't have to wait long for the next one.

Salford: Patten; Broughton, Gibson, Gleeson, Williams; Holdsworth, Sneyd; Jewitt, Howarth, Boyle, Ashurst, Anderson, Wild. Subs: Sidlow, Palea'aesina, James, Nero.

Widnes: Phelps; Isa, Marsh, Dean, Ah Van; Mellor, Hanbury; Cross, McShane, Pickesgill, Winterstein, Allen, Cahill. Subs: O'Carroll, Davies, Kite, Craven.