Alarm bells ringing

Jun 5 2008 by Ian Cheveau, Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News

FEATHERSTONE Rovers provided the shock of the Co-operative League One season after they turned over Steve McCormack’s Vikings at Chris Moyles Stadium.

For the first time this year the alarm bells may have sounded after Widnes shipped 34 points to the part-timers to make it 84 points conceded in two games.

Widnes’ first-half performance simply wasn’t good enough.

Too many unforced errors and missed tackles were the order of the day for the Vikings and they left themselves with too much to do in the second period.

Rovers played simple rugby league and completed sets which meant they had the field position to exploit Widnes’ defence.

Scott Yates, the Vikings’ stand-in goal kicker, missed a hat full of opportunities with the boot which didn’t help the Widnes case either.

But his play in open space was again eye-catching, as was that of new signing Adel Fellous who made a series of blockbusting runs, which caused problems for the Featherstone tacklers.

Featherstone started brightly but it was Iain Morrison who burst over for the opening try of the game.

Ex-Widnes scrum-half Andy Kain hit back for the home side and two Stuart Dickens goals put Rovers 10-4 in front.

Dean Gaskell, who had another solid game for Widnes, sent in Yates for a well-worked score and the game was well placed.

However, Kain’s second of day gave Rovers a 16-8 lead at the break.

Former Super League winger Waine Price steamed over straight after the restart, meaning that Widnes had it all to do to make up lost ground.

Ian Hardman got Widnes back in touch with a try that was backed up by a Lee Paterson effort, but Yates pulled both conversion attempts and Widnes were cast aside when Dickens slotted another goal.

Andy Kirk, another old face from last season, touched down after Gaskell was denied by the referee and that signalled the end of the game for Widnes.

Danny Hill gave Widnes a flicker of hope five minutes from time but Sean Hesketh made certain of the points with a try on the hooter.