Vikings run out of steam in the Powergen Cup (From Warrington Guardian)

Vikings run out of steam in the Powergen Cup

Wigan Warriors 38

Widnes Vikings 12

WIDNES Vikings gave Wigan Warriors a first half scare before bowing out of the Powergen Challenge Cup at JJB Stadium on Sunday.

The final score of 38-12 in the Warriors favour looked an unlikely scenario as a Jules O'Neill inspired Widnes went in at the interval with a 12-4 lead.

Wigan had star wingman Brian Carney stretchered of in the 32nd minute with a suspected broken ankle.

However, the Vikings appeared to run out of steam in the second half as the Warriors ran in 34 unanswered points.

Widnes coach Neil Kelly commented: "We were 12-4 up at half-time and happy with that but we gave the ball away too cheaply and there's a price to pay for that later in the game.

"We gave Wigan 50 per cent of their possession so we were defending more which takes it out of you. But there were some positives to take from the game.

"To concede 34 unanswered points in the second half is a big negative but an even bigger negative would be to not see how we can move on.

"We were looking for a better team performance today and for long periods we got that."

There was no doubting the quality of the Vikings two first half tries.

The first was a magnificent solo effort from ex-Wigan star O'Neill.

On 16 minutes, he sold an outrageous dummy to Wigan scrum-half Luke Robison on halfway and sliced through the home defence.

The Warriors Great Britain fullback Kris Radlinski seemed to have him lined up but O'Neill burst through his attempted tackle and dived over for a superb score.

He added the conversion himself to make it 6-0.

Seven minutes later, another Wigan old-boy, fullback Paul Atcheson, off-loaded superbly to centre Deon Bird who wrong-footed Radlinski to dive under the posts.

Bird was unlucky to have another try disallowed for a forward pass but gradually Wigan clawed their way back into the contest.

With just two minutes of the half remaining, the video referee determined that Martin Aspinwall had touched down for the home side as he crashed over in the corner.

Wigan came out for the second period looking like they meant business.

Prop forward Quentin Pongia led the way with some robust defence and Widnes were soon on the back foot.

Substitute Mark Smith scored a brace of tries to wrest the advantage away from the Vikings and three more tries in a seven-minute spell effectively won the game.

Sean O'Loughlin, Terry Newton and Kevin Brown all registered as the Vikings resistance melted away.

A late try from Wigan stand-off Danny Orr completed the scoring.

Widnes will be hoping to register their first win of the season against Huddersfield on Friday night at Halton Stadium.

Widnes: Atcheson, Rowlands, Robinson, Bird (1t), Giles, J O'Neill (1t, 2g), Lawford, Relf, Millard, J F O'Neill, McCurrie, Hay, Finnigan, Subs: Mills, Hughes, Hobson, MacDonald.