IT was another disappointing away day in Yorkshire for Widnes Vikings as they went down 40-10 to Halifax at the Shay.

Having dragged themselves back into the contest at half-time, in the end it was a fairly meek capitulation in the second half by Kieron Purtill’s men.

Jayden Hatton returned on the wing for the Vikings with Patrick Ah Van switching to the centre alongside Keenan Brand.

Chris Dean moved back into his favoured second row position with young hooker Jacob Dugdale retaining his place on the substitutes bench.

Halifax enjoyed the better of the field-position in the early stages and they were helped out by a couple of Widnes errors.

A scrum near the Widnes line saw the home side move the ball to the left and Quentin Laulu-Togagae’ short pass put ex-Viking Steve Tyrer over for a self-converted try.

Another error gifted Fax more possession in the danger zone and another ex-Widnes man, Adam Tangata was on hand to take an offload and crash under the posts.

On 26 minutes, travelling fans must have feared the worst when Scott Murrell’s cross-kick was fumbled into the path of Chester Butler whose converted score made it 18-0.

Halifax knocked-on from the restart and at last the Vikings found some attacking rhythm.

A well-timed short pass from Danny Craven allowed Sam Wilde to stretch over from close range with Jack Owens converting with the help of the right-hand upright.

It was now the home side’s turn to come up with the mistakes and Widnes profited when slick handling created an overlap on the left with Jayden Hatton finishing off to make the half-time score 18-10.

Fax increased their lead four minutes into the second half with smart inter-passing up the middle being finished off by substitute Brandon Moore with Tyrer again on target with the conversion.

Halifax found another hole in centre field which Ben Kavanagh raced through and the ball went through two more pairs of hands before Tyrer crossed for his second six-pointer to make it 30-10 on 55 minutes.

The Vikings’ attempts to play catch-up football only increased the error rate though winger Olly Ashall-Bott went close but couldn’t quite hold on to a Gilmore kick to the corner.

With nine minutes remaining, Butler put the game to bed with his second try after several Widnes players failed to react to a loose ball and Tyrer’s sixth goal.

Tyrer’s seventh conversion attempt was his first miss and it came following Butler’s hat-trck score after a ball steal on Chris Dean just before the final hooter.

Halifax: Laulu-Togagae; Saltonstall, Woodburn-Hall, Tyrer, Robinson; Murrell, Johnston; Morris, Kaye, Fleming, Butler, Barber, Tangata. Subs: Moore, Kavanagh, Larroyer, Fairbank.

Widnes: Owens; Ashall-Bott, Ah Van, Brand, Hatton; Craven, Gilmore; Cahill, Johnstone, Hansen, Wilde, Dean, Leuluai. Subs: Dugdale, J Chapelhow, Walker, Norman.

Half-Time: 18-10

Referee: Mr J Child