Widnes Vikings 18 Warrington Wolves 28

THREE late tries secured a festive victory for Wolves in an entertaining friendly match with neighbours Widnes.

Toby King, Declan Kay and Rhys Evans all crossed in the closing stages to secure victory for Tony Smith’s side in a tight affair.

Harvey Livett and Ryan Atkins also crossed for The Wire, with Widnes crossing four times through Stefan Marsh, Ryan Ince, Keanan Brand and Liam Walsh.

Fans had hoped to see their first glimpse of new half-back Kevin Brown, but he was not quite fit enough to face the side he left to join The Wire.

Widnes made the better start and crossed for the game’s first try when Joe Mellor’s miss-out ball allowed Stefan Marsh to cross in the corner.

The try seemed to wake The Wire up, with Jack Johnson and Livett both passing up opportunities to score as the visitors lacked a cutting edge in attack.

However, that changed when Marsh dropped Joe Westerman’s high kick straight into the path of Livett, who took full advantage.

It did not prove the spark Wolves needed as Widnes finished the half strongly and Ince slid over from Tom Gilmore’s grubber kick to regain the lead for the hosts.

The hosts continued their momentum after the break when Keanan Brand produced an acrobatic finish in the corner, but back came Wolves straight away when Benjamin Jullien’s short ball sent Atkins crashing through a gap.

With the game increasingly fragmented, points became harder to come by until an error from Kay on the wing from Gilmore’s high bomb saw Liam Walsh score.

Once again, though, this sparked Tony Smith’s side into life and Toby King raced over after a charge down to reduce the gap.

This time, their fightback was more sustained and they took the lead for the first time with seven minutes left when Atkins delayed his pass perfectly to allow youngster Kay to cross in the corner.

Gloss was added to the scoreline in the final moments when Jack Johnson’s mini-break created an overlap on the right and he released Evans to score.

Wolves’ next pre-season test is not until Saturday, January 28, when they travel to face Rochdale Hornets.

Warrington: Johnson; Lineham, Livett, Atkins, Evans; T King, Westerman; Sims, Smith, Philbin, Savelio, Hughes, G King. Subs: Jullien, Wilde, Moran, Kay, Hatton, Jones, Mitchell, Ryan.