Great Britain captain Paul Sculthorpe produced a moment of magic to help St Helens to a precious win over battling Widnes in a helter-skelter engage Super League clash at the Halton Stadium.

Saints were clinging to a 24-22 lead when an otherwise subdued Sculthorpe broke out of his own half to set up the position for substitute Mick Higham to score the match-clinching try.

The loose forward then put over a drop-goal to make sure of a win that keeps St Helens in touch with leaders Leeds, their next opponents at Knowsley Road next Friday.

New coach Daniel Anderson will be in charge by then and, when he sees the tape of tonight's match, he will be relieved to see his side bounce back from their 44-6 humiliation at Hull.

They were pushed all the way by the spirited Vikings, who matched their star-studded visitors throughout a pulsating first half and edged in front for a brief spell in the second half as they threatened to pull off their first Super League win against Saints.

The visitors led 12-2 and 18-12 but were pegged back each time by the relegation-threatened home side, who were without leading tryscorer Aaron Moule.

Widnes took the lead with a penalty goal from half-back Stephen Myler after only two minutes but they looked to be in for a long, hard night when they conceded two tries in seven minutes.

Sculthorpe won the race to Keiron Cunningham's grubber-kick to score the first and winger Darren Albert grabbed the second following a superb pick-up and dive to gather Sean Long's lofted kick to the corner.

Long converted both touchdowns to put his side 12-2 up but Widnes, in buoyant mood following their seven-try win at Wakefield, were level within eight minutes.

Skipper Shane Millard forced his way over from dummy-half and then centre Gary Connolly, who began his distinguished career at St Helens 17 years ago, took Owen Craigie's long pass to cross wide out.

That was the signal for the visitors to show the St Helens of old as centre Willie Talau twice kicked ahead and full-back Paul Wellens emulated Albert's earlier effort with some devastating finishing.

Long kicked a second touchline conversion to open up a six-point lead but Widnes struck back in controversial fashion in first-half stoppage time.

Craigie's elusive run opened up the Saints defence for substitute Matt Whitaker to stroll over for a try, with referee Richard Silverwood ignoring vehement claims by defenders for an obstruction.

Myler kicked his third goal to tie the scores once more and Widnes went in front for the first time nine minutes into the second half when right winger Andrew Emelio collected Craigie's pinpoint kick to the corner.

That try followed a handling error by Long, who was immediately withdrawn by caretaker coach Dave Rotheram, and his absence almost proved costly.

It was then Saints' turn to draw level, with Albert taking Jamie Lyon's cut-out pass and easily beating his former team-mate Gray Viane on the outside to claim his second try.

Sculthorpe, St Helens' second-choice marksman, missed the difficult conversion but was on target with a penalty on 61 minutes to restore his side's lead.

The captain then came up with the decisive break and Maurie Fa'asavalu and Wellens kept the ball alive for Higham to finish off. Sculthorpe hit the woodwork with the conversion but made sure of the win with a one-pointer six minutes from the end.