HAT-Tricks for Jack Owens and Owen Buckley helped Widnes to cruise into Round 5 of the Coral Challenge Cup with a 54-14 win over Oldham at Bower Fold, Stalybridge.

The Vikings registered ten tries in total with the game effectively in the bag by half-time and only a late rally by the opposition keeping the score respectable.

Widnes were without stand-off Danny Craven with Jack Owens moving up into the halves from fullback.

As part of the same re-shufle, Lloyd Roby slotted in at the back with Chris Dean moving from the pack into the centres.

Warrington-loanee Luis Johnson is unable to feature in the Cup for the Vikings so Macgraff Leuluai got a starting berth at loose forward with recently signed Dom Speakman making his competitive debut from the bench.

Oldham looked lively early on and created the first chance but a grubber kick into the Widnes in-goal just eluded the chasers.

Instead, it was the Vikings who opened the scoring on seven minutes when a long, bouncing pass was picked up by Dean who sent prolific right winger Ryan Ince racing 40 metres to the corner.

Try number two wasn’t long in coming when the home defence failed to deal with a Joe Lyons short kick and Owens pounced to touch down and converted himself to make it 10-0.

On 16 minutes, Buckley’s long cut-out pass was well-taken by left winger Owen Buckley to add four to the total.

When a long Ince break saw the ball switched across to the left, centre Keenan Brand’s converted score meant Widnes were going at a point-a-minute at 20-0 and it got even better when Buckley danced and dummied his way through for his second try for another six-pointer.

The Roughyeds enjoyed their most concerted spell of pressure on the Vikings line but having repelled multiple sets of six, Kieron Purtill’s men registered try number six when Owens burst clear from a tap penalty and showed a clean pair of heels on a 60 metre run to the line.

With two minutes of the first half remaining, Owens registered his hat-trick try after fine play in the build-up by second row Brad Walker. Owens fifth goal made the interval score 38-0.

It was business as usual soon after the restart as Roby broke from deep after fielding a kick and inter-passed with Brand before crossing on the left with Owens once more accurate with the boot.

On 45 minutes, a Brand break allowed Buckley an easy run in at the flag to make complete a hat-trick and make the score 48-0.

Oldham finally got themselves on the scoreboard on 55 minutes when Buckley fumbled a kick on his own line and centre Zack McComb picked up the pieces to pull six points back.

There was a sense of the Vikings having put the cue on the rack as the home side crossed for further tries from Gareth Owen and Jack Johnson to bring the score back to 48-14.

A late scuffle saw Hep Cahill sin-binned alongside Oldham forward Scott Law and there was just time for Jordan Johnstone to bring up the half-century when he crashed over from close range with Owens adding his seventh conversion.

The home side finished with elevem men on the field after prop Phil Joy was also binned for a high shot.

Oldham: Hawkyard; Johnson, Holmes, McComb, Maders; Crook, Hewitt; Joy, Owen, Law, Calland, Whittel, Bent. Subs: Greenwood, Gwaze, Davies, Spencer.

Widnes: Roby; Ince,, Dean, Brand, Buckley; Owens, Lyons; Cahill, Johnstone, Hansen, Wilde, Walker, Leuluai. Subs: Speakman, T Chapelhow, , J Chapelhow, Farnworth.

Half-Time: 0-38 Referee: Mr J Smith Attendance: 1,247