WIDNES produced their worst performance of the season as they were thrashed 62-0 by Bradford Bulls at the Provident Stadium.

Hat-tricks for Joe Keyes and Elliot Minchella featured amongst eleven tries in all for the home side.

Widnes went into the game without second row Chris Dean and prop Jay Chapelhow who both picked up knocks in the previous game against Dewsbury.

Jordan Johnstone moved up to the starting line-up at loose forward with youngster Jacob Dugdale coming in on the bench.

Bradford crossed for their first try on six minutes when stand-off Keyes brushed through an ineffective tackle directly from a scrum and added the goal himself.

It didn’t take the Bulls long to double their lead Jordan Lilley making the initial inroads before loose forward Minchella finished off from 30 metres.

Widnes enjoyed their only spell of pressure of the first half but were kept at bay by the home defence.

Keyes second try came when he blocked a Brad Walker kick near his own tryline before racing the length of the field, outpacing Anthony Gelling en route.

A fine 40/20 kick from Lilley paid double dividends when Danny Craven prevented the Bulls from restarting the game and earned himself ten minutes in the sin-bin.

From the following set of six, a long pass put right winger Jy Hitchcox over to make it 22-0.

Things took a turn for the even worse when a Keyes kick bounced back over the head of Jack Owens in his own in-goal for Bradford fullback Brandon Pickersgill to touch down.

A disaster of a first period was completed when Bulls dummy-half George Flanagan burrowed over from close range through weak defence to make it 34-0 at the interval.

The start of the second half was business as usual as Gelling knocked on from the kick-off and Bradford centre Ross Oakes managed to touch down from the subsequent pressure to increase his side’s lead to 38-0.

Keyes hat-trick try came when he danced past Gelling after the Vikings had given away a penalty for dissent.

Widnes hardly looked capable of completing a set for the first 20 minutes of the second half and Bradford brought up their half-century on the hour when Flanagan again caught the Vikings snoozing at the play-the-ball.

A performance of staggering ineptitude continued as a Harrison Hansen pass was picked off Minchella who raced to the line and almost immediately the same player added his third try after a Craven kick was blocked in his own ‘20’.

A performance to forget by the Vikings.

Bradford: Pickersgill; Ryan, Oakes, Webster, Hitchcox; Keyes, Lilley; Magrin, Hallas, Kirk, Garside, Farrell, Minchella. Subs: Flanagan, Wood, Bustin, Peltier.

Widnes: Owens; Edge, Gelling, Brand, Roby; Craven, Lyons; Hansen, Ganson, T Chapelhow, Wilde, Walker, Johnstone. Subs: Dugdale, Farnworth, Leuluai, Norman.

Half-Time: 34-0

Referee: Mr Pearson

Attendance: 3,895