Vikings made to battle before plundering points

WIDNES Vikings were made to fight all the way by Doncaster before running out 40-18 winners in their Co-operative National League clash at the Halton Stadium.

It took a second half brace of tries from former Warrington centre Toa Kohe-Love before the Vikings could rest easy against a Doncaster side which completely erased the memory of the 90-point mauling they took at the Keepmoat Stadium back in June.

Widnes enjoyed territorial advantage early in the piece but were met by stubborn resistance.

Shaun Leaf's try saving tackle on Widnes centre Mick Nanyn on eight minutes epitomised the visitors effort. but the Doncaster full-back paid a heavy price as he was stretchered from the field.

It took until the 16th minute for Widnes to register the first score of the afternoon as second row Lee Doran bulldozed his way over from close range with Nanyn converting.

Any thoughts it may be the opening the floodgates was quickly dispelled when impressive prop forward Luke Burgess powered in for a six-pointer to level the scores.

Substitute Chris Buttery had a try disallowed for Doncaster before Nanyn gave the home side the lead when he powered 50 metres before forcing his way through a last-ditch tackle to score.

The introduction of Oliver Wilkes gave Widnes more momentum and they took advantage three minutes before the break as Doran stretched over for his second try, a virtual replica of his first.

Widnes fans may have hoped a 16-6 half-time lead may have been a platform for a runaway win.

The notion was reinforced when winger Damian Blanch ran 70 yards to score on 44 minutes despite a valiant chase from opposite number Joe Brown.

Nanyn converted but Doncaster were undeterred.

A barnstorming run by Burgess saw him link up with scrum-half Luke Gale, who showed good pace to finish off at the posts.

Gale converted his own try and Doncaster were entitled to feel they were right back in the game.

Widnes needed their star names to come to the party and it was Kohe-Love who stepped up.

Twice within the space of three minutes the New Zealander linked up with Scott Grix to great effect and both resulted in excellent scores.

Nanyn failed to convert on both occasions and fared no better after Wilkes stormed in from 30 metres to make it 34-12.

Finally Widnes had the look of a team which had the game under their control and they fed off that confidence to score the try of the match.

Nanyn's offload to Ian Webster set the ball rolling and the youngster drew the last defender before sending substitute Gavin Dood streaking to the posts.

Nanyn converted but it was quite fitting Doncaster had the last word given the quality of their effort.

Stand-off Chris Forster was the beneficiary of a superb round-the-man pass from Alex Rowe and scampered to the line from 10 metres.

Gale's conversion was the last significant act of an entertaining and thoroughly competitive encounter.Matchfacts

Widnes

Grix; Blanch, Kohe-Love, Nanyn, Gaskell; Moran, Penny; James, Webster, Summers, Doran, Tomkins, Noone. Subs: Cassidy, Wilkes, Dodd, Price

Doncaster

Leaf; Skelton, Munro, Woods, Brown; Forster, Gale; Hodgkinson, Richardson, Burgess, Lawton, Green, Benson. Subs: Buttery, Anderson, Worrell, Rowe

Referee: M Alibert