Widnes suffered their second crushing defeat in a week, losing against a
rampant Hull side on Sunday.
With Hull missing key players through a mix of injury and suspension ahead of
their Powergen Challenge Cup semi-final next weekend, the situation was primed
for Widnes to boost their ailing survival hopes with a win after defeat by
Wakefield last week.
However, through a combination of individual error and flashes of brilliance
from Hull, Frank Endacott's men are now staring relegation full in the face.
They remain five points adrift of safety with only six games remaining.
Former rugby union centre Kirk Dixon played a lead role in their demise, scoring a hat-trick on his first engage Super League start. The
22-year-old was only playing due to the absence of several regulars but
succeeded in handing head coach John Kear a further selection problem ahead of
the semi-final with St Helens.
Widnes welcomed Adam Hughes back from a hamstring injury but were dealt a blow
when John Stankevitch withdrew just before kick-off after suffering an injury in
the warm-up. Hull were missing Shayne McMenemy (shoulder), Paul King (wrist),
Richie Barnett (hamstring) and Paul Cooke (suspension) although there was a
return for Gareth Raynor, out for six weeks with an ankle problem.
Hughes was in the thick of the action from the start, although unfortunately
for the home side, his first act was to gift Danny Brough with two points after
conceding a penalty for offside. The same man then lost the ball early in the
tackle count which allowed Richard Horne to feed Dixon, who skipped in for the
opening try.
Brough missed the goal and then three minutes later Hughes redeemed himself by
squeezing over in the corner to reduce the deficit at 8-4. Stephen Myler missed
the conversion, and his profligacy with the boot was a factor throughout.
He later missed another first-half conversion after Shane Millard had powered
in from dummy-half. Despite this Hull remained the more dominant side and
replied with two more tries of their own, one either side of Millard's effort.
First Richard Horne skipped past the cover defence to touch down and then
Horne and Brough combined superbly to send Dixon in for a replica of his first
try. Brough's accuracy with the boot sent the victors in 18-8 ahead at the
break.
Gray Viane, a rare success story for the Vikings this campaign offered his
side hope with a 42nd minute effort, capitalising on Tom Saxton's errant defence
to go over in the corner, but once again Myler failed to turn four points into
six.
Defensive star Stephen Kearney edged them back into a secure lead in the 47th
minute. Taking the ball from dummy-half, the Kiwi burst his way through the line
to score to the right of the posts, with Brough failing to convert.
Brough's 57th minute penalty extended the lead to 12 points at 12-24 and faced
with having to score three times to surmount the deficit Widnes became error
strewn in attack. Two knock-ons and an ill-advised play from Jules O'Neill in
the space of three sets penned them back into their own 20metre area and on the
back of this Horne collected Richard Whiting's pass to bounce his way over for
the clinching try.
As the home side became more and more desperate for a way back into the side
they continued to lose focus in defence and as a result Dixon was allowed to
secure his hat-trick.
Garreth Carvell bulldozed his way over from two yards shortly after before
Viane posted his second try. Motu Tony misread a kick over the top and Viane
swept in to cruise to the line, Myler again failing to convert. Daniel Frame
then stole in for a further score, O'Neill this time missing the kick.
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