Widnes Vikings 38 Rochdale Hornets 10

RED-HOT Phil Cantillon equalled one record and smashed another as the Vikings defeated an ill-disciplined Hornets side at the Auto Quest Stadiumo.

Five tries in the match gave Cantillon another share in the club's tries-in-a-game record, and with his season's tally now reaching 23, he has surpassed the club record number of tries-in-a-season by a forward held by Widnes legend Jimmy Hoey (21) since 1933.

Rochdale certainly did their best to ensure Cantillon had plenty of space to exploit - they had men sent off in the 18th and 43rd minute as well as two others sin-binned.

The first try came on nine minutes when Cantillon forced his way over from close-range to make it 4-0.

With one off and one in the bin, the Hornets could do nothing to prevent his second as he sneaked up the blindside after 20 minutes.

Cantillon reached his hat-trick (and equalled Hoey's record) and at 16-0 Widnes looked set fair but a converted try by Danny Ward gave the visitors hope on the stroke of half time.

The dismissal of fullback Lee Maher in the second half ended that hope, though the Vikings didn't take advantage to the extent one would have imagined.

Eddie Kilgannon stretched the lead as he outflanked the Hornets' defence but to their credit Rochdale hit back with a Marlon Miller try despite being down to 11 men.

Most of the Widnes side didn't look overkeen to press home their advantage so Cantillon decided to do it himself as he scorched in for two more tries.

With time running out, and the Hornets defence in understandable disarray, the crowd were willing Cantillon to score a record-breaking sixth try.

When he raced away at the play-the-ball in the last minute, most of us would have forgiven him for taking on the fullback but he unselfishly sent Damian Munro sailing under the posts.

Jones' conversion completed the scoring at 38-10 and the Hornets might consider they got off lightly.

Widnes are now in a position to make an assault on at least fifth place in the table and their fixture schedule doesn't look the most difficult.

They should have a number of players coming back from injury in the next few weeks, so David Hulme may be viewing the play-offs with some confidence.

This weekend is a Bank Holiday double-header with Swinton (away) on Friday night and Whitehaven (home) on Monday.

Four points would be very useful.

Widnes: Munro (1t); Jones (5g); Leuila; Kilgannon (1t); Cheetham; Mansson; Fitzpatrick; Knox; Cantillon (5t); Argent; Gee; Hill; Hodgkinson; Subs: Briers; Murphy; D Smith; Hansen.

Attendance: 3,170.

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