Warrington 30-12 Widnes: Wolves stay top with victory over the Vikings
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 10/09/16 2:04pm
Warrington had no trouble maintaining top spot in First Utility Super League with an emphatic victory over neighbours Widnes.
The Wolves, who have lost only two of their past 13 league and cup matches, will now be in a confident mood for a home clash against Wigan and a visit to Hull before the play-off semi-finals.
Warrington romped into a 20-0 interval lead with tries from skipper Chris Hill, Ashton Sims and teenager Morgan Smith with Kurt Gidley booting four goals.
Second-half touchdowns followed from Joe Philbin and Matty Russell with Gidley adding another goal. Widnes, with nothing left to play for this season but pride, could only manage second-half tries from Joe Mellor and Corey Thompson but never gave up.
Warrington were still missing Chris Sandow and Daryl Clark from the side beaten by Hull in the Challenge Cup final.
But Stefan Ratchford, Rhys Evans and Gidley returned after missing the victory at Catalans in place of Jack Johnson, Kevin Penny and Jordan Cox - Ratchford landing the man-of-the-match award with a polished show at full-back.
Patrick Ah Van was back for Widnes with Stefan Marsh sidelined through injury.
Gidley was prominent early on for Warrington, who had won their past five home matches against Widnes. But the Vikings would have taken the lead had Marsh been able to take a pass from Hanbury.
It proved a costly miss with Warrington responding immediately for Hill to blast through poor defence for a superb 30-metre solo try with Gidley converting.
Warrington missed the chance to go further ahead with Currie spilling a pass from Ratchford with Widnes forced on the defensive. Ratchford's surging break put the Vikings under more pressure with Warrington extending the lead with a Gidley penalty.
Then Sims was quickest to react to Smith's neat grubber kick to notch the Wolves' second try with Gidley's conversion making it 14-0.
Widnes boss Denis Betts would not have been pleased with the defence which allowed Smith to squeeze over past several defenders in the corner and Gidley again added the extras to take the score to 20-0.
A poor pass from Toby King let Widnes off the hook early in the second half, but Gidley sent Philbin over for the fourth Wolves try to extend the lead to 26-0.
An angled run from Mellor brought the Vikings their first try after 51 minutes, but Widnes never looked like notching a third win in a row after victories over Wakefield and Wigan.
Impressive defence stopped Vikings sub Connor Farrell barging over before a Hanbury error from a Gidley kick put his side under more pressure and enable Russell to cross in the corner.
Thompson added his 25th try of the season two minutes from time with Lloyd White converting.
