Warrington Wolves 22 Widnes Vikings 6

A MUCH-IMPROVED second-half display saw Wolves round off Super League’s regular rounds with victory over neighbours Widnes.

Peta Hiku, Kevin Brown and Matty Russell’s second of the game, all within 11 minutes of each other, proved enough for The Wire to claim the two points and enter the Middle 8s having won three games in a row.

Russell gave Wire an early lead, but Joe Mellor’s quick feet got him over for a try that gave the visitors a half-time advantage.

Wire skipper Chris Hill was left out of the team as a precaution due to a hamstring injury, but his side made the perfect start without him.

From their first set, Brown spun a miss-out pass to the right wing and Russell was able to dart over.

Stand-in captain Stefan Ratchford missed the conversion and that proved vital when it came to who held the half-time lead.

Warrington-born Widnes skipper Mellor was able to dance through a dazed Wire defence to level the scores, with Stefan Marsh’s extras nudging the understrength Vikings ahead.

In fact Wire could have capped a below-par first half display by being behind were it not for Ben Currie’s superb cover tackle to deny Tom Armstrong a try in the corner.

Corey Thompson had denied Ryan Atkins with a similar tackle at the other end before that, but Widnes deserved their lead at the break.

Wolves repelled several Widnes sets on their line, brought about by errors and more indiscipline, but eventually got a foothold in the game.

Dec Patton’s superb cross-field kick was claimed by man-of-the-match Hiku for his first try in primrose and blue to give his side a lead they would not relinquish.

Patton was again to the fore on the hour as his clever reverse kick was chased down by half-back partner Brown, who touched down just before the ball went dead for his fourth try in two games against his former employers.

Three minutes later, the game was over as a contest when a blistering right-edge move involving Hiku and Jack Hughes sent Russell over to double his tally.

Wolves: Ratchford; Russell, Hiku, Atkins, Lineham; Patton, Brown; Cooper, Clark, Sims, Jullien, Hughes, Philbin. Subs: Currie, Savelio, G King, Smith.