Widnes Vikings beat Oldham 52-12 in Challenge Cup fourth round

Tim Sheens' men ran in nine tries as they blew away the Roughyeds for the second time this season.

Danny Craven was orchestrator in chief and had fine support from the likes of Kenny Baker, Sam Wilde and Jack Owens.

All pictures by Richard Walker

It didn’t take the Vikings long to establish their superiority.

A raid up the right edge seemed to have fizzled out but fullback Owens managed to smuggle the ball away in the tackle allowing centre Lloyd Roby to wriggle over wide out with Owens adding a fine goal.

On their next possession, Widnes moved the ball wide in their own half with Roby releasing right winger Deon Cross who outpaced the Oldham defence on a 60 metre run to the corner to make it 12-0.

All pictures by Richard Walker

There was still only sixteen minutes on the clock when a short ball from Craven sent Wilde over from 20 metres and that was immediately followed by a superb Craven try of his own as he exchanged passes in midfield with Owens before scampering under the posts.

Craven was again instrumental when his drop-off sent loose forward Baker dancing over and Owens' fifth successful conversion made it 30-0 with only 21 minutes on the clock.

The visitors barely set foot in Vikings territory in the first quarter but to their credit they rolled up their sleeves and had the better of things for the rest of the first half. They were rewarded five minutes before the break when lively full-back Dan Abram showed good footwork to dance over to pull six points back.

It took literally seconds for Widnes to get the scoreboard ticking after the break. They regained possession from their own kick-off and from the next play Craven sent Wilde through a huge hole to touch down for his second try.

All pictures by Richard Walker

The next score was a cracker as the ball was moved the full width of the pitch where it reached Jack Johnson who stormed 50 metres up the left touchline for another converted score.

Try number eight came from Edge who profited from good play in the build up between Craven and Baker with Owens adding his eighth successful conversion to make it 48-6 with half an hour still to play.

Oldham enjoyed a decent spell of possession but were held out by the Vikings and normal service was eventually resumed on 73 minutes when Edge released Johnson up the left who went in at the flag with Owens missing his first goal attempt of the afternoon.

With the last play of the game, Oldham registered a consolation try when second row Danny Langtree showed good pace to cross from 40 metres to make the final score 52-12.

Widnes: Owens; Cross, Edge, Roby, Johnson; Craven, Smith; T Chapelhow, Tomkins, Moran, Wilde, Grady, Baker. Subs: Lyons, Dwyer, Farnworth, Leuluai.

Oldham:: Abram; Kay, Hutchings, Leeming, Johnson; Charnock, Brook; Joy, Owen, Spencer, Langtree, Bridge, Bent. Subs: Wilkinson, Davies, Fletcher, Hewitt.

Half-time: 30-6

Referee: Gareth Hewer

Attendance: 1,564