RESULTS & FIXTURES

A CASE TO ANSWER

Wakefield Trinity 24 Widnes Vikings...22

A CONVERTED try by Garen Casey nine minutes from full-time consigned the Vikings to defeat in their opening Division One encounter at Belle Vue, writes Mark Farmer.

No doubt Graeme West will feel that his team should have won what turned out to be a thrilling encounter.

But he will be worried by the ease with which Wakefield stretched the Vikings' defence early on and by some soft defence around the play-the-ball.

It's something to work on for Sunday's Silk Cut cup-tie at Barrow.

Widnes had, in fact, started the second-half with a healthy 20-12 lead - but could only add a Paul Howell penalty goal to their half-time total.

The first period began badly for the visitors as Wakefield ran in two converted tries in the opening 15 minutes.

Firstly, veteran forward, Sonny Whakarau, collected Garen Casey's looped inside pass to score by the posts as Trinity exploited the space on the outside of the Vikings' compact defence.

Then, loose-forward, Matt Fuller, scampered over from dummy-half as Widnes' markers went AWOL at the play-the-ball.

When the Vikings' attacking play finally clicked into gear, it did so with some style.

On 19 minutes, wingman Peter Smith, showed his opposite number a clean pair of heals after Salisbury created the extra man to make it 4-12.

Just five minutes later, Tane Manihera side-stepped brilliantly through the home defence from close-range to score.

Howell's conversion followed by a penalty, put the Vikings back on level terms at 12-12.

They continued to push forward with Kyle White having a try disallowed for a double movement before Smith added his second try, the best of the match, as he scorched in after slick handling from Emery, Salisbury and Wilson.

On the stroke of half-time, Salisbury's unconverted try gave the Vikings a 20-12 lead after Trinity full-back, Holland, failed to defuse a bomb under good pressure from Cross.

Widnes began the second-half as they had finished the first, very much on the offensive.

However, the scrambling home defence somehow prevented what may have been a killer score.

Gradually, Wakefield edged their way back into the contest and reaped their reward when outstanding prop, Hughes, powered over for a converted try to make it 18-20.

A Howell penalty stretched the Vikings' lead to four points but Trinity had their tails up and it came as no surprise when March forced his way over - again from the dummy-half position!

Casey added the difficult angled conversion into the wind to give Wakefield a 24-22 lead they would keep to the final hooter.

Howell missed a 35 yard penalty that would have earned the Vikings a draw.

Wakefield Trinity: Holland, Waters, Casey (4g), Law, Wray, Mycoe, March (1t), Proctor, Southernwood, Hughes (1t), McDonald, Whakarau (1t), Fuller (1t); Subs: Judge, Rika, Hicks, Horsley.

Widnes Vikings: Salisbury (1t), Cross, Bloem, Wilson, Smith (2t), Howell (3g), Emery, Makin, Ashton, Measures, Harris, White, Manihera (1t); Subs: Litherland, Myler, Briers, Cunningham.

Attendance 2045

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.