A WEAKENED Widnes side seemed to simply run out of energy as they went down 17-10 at York City Knights on Easter Monday.

The Vikings held a handy lead at 10-0 fifteen minutes into the second half but the home side stormed back for a great win.

Head coach Kieron Purtill made several enforced changes to the team that got the better of Leigh on Good Friday.

Jaydon Hatton came in for Anthony Gelling in the centres having featured as a non-playing substitute at Batley a few weeks earlier.

Lloyd Roby started at stand-off in place of the injured Danny Craven and Ben Davies was on the substitutes bench.

In a nip-and-tuck opening, the Vikings looked the more sprightly and they opened the scoring on nine minutes when Sam Wilde hit a short Jordan Johnstone pass and burrowed over. Jack Owens goal made it 6-0.

From there on, the first half was a real war of attrition.

Widnes gave far too many cheap penalties away and had to endure long spells of pressure on their own line. Fortunately, a combination of game defence and poor York handling kept the home side at bay.

The Vikings created a great chance when Roby picked up a loose ball near his own line and raced away. He handed on to Keenan Brand who quickly shipped it on to Sam Freeman but the youngster knocked on with a clear field ahead of him.

More heroic defence by Widnes meant the half-time score remained 6-0.

When Owens sent Ryan Ince over with a lovely long pass to make it 10-0 on 47 minutes, everything looked set fair for the Vikings but York had other ideas.

Fine passing to the left allowed winger Jason Bass to pull four points back and then a terrific midfield break was finished off by Nick Rawsthorne to level things up.

With the win in their sails, York sneaked ahead with a Connor Robinson drop-goal and the same player danced through for a touchdown to give his side a 15-10 advantage.

With the hooter having already sounded, Robinson added a penalty goal to complete the scoring.

York: Marsh; Mazive, Rawsthorne, Salter, Bass; Robinson, Jubb; Horne, Peterson, Teanby, Scott, Stock, Spears. Subs: Baldwinson, Blagborough, Brining, Hey.

Widnes: Owens; Ince, Hatton, Brand, Freeman; Roby, Lyons; Cahill, Johnstone, T Chapelhow, Wilde, Walker, Leuluai. Subs: J Chapelhow, Walsh, Speakman, Davies.

Half-Time: 0-6.

Referee: Mr G Dolan.