Warrington wallop Widnes to go top of Super League
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 22/04/16 11:25pm
Warrington climbed back above Wigan at the top of the Super League with a 48-16 win at Widnes.
The Wolves, who led 30-6 at half-time, ran in eight converted tries with three players ending with a brace.
Joe Westerman, Kevin Penny and Stefan Ratchford all dotted down, with Kurt Gidley and Ben Westwood getting the others.
Gidley landed seven goals and Ratchford another.
Widnes could only reply with touchdowns from Joe Mellor, Corey Thompson and Stefan Marsh.
A scorching break from Thompson gave the Vikings early confidence but Matty Russell responded immediately for Warrington who took the lead when Gidley shot past Chris Dean to score his third try for the club after only six minutes.
Gidley added the conversion and Widnes suffered another blow when Chris Bridge limped off against his old club.
Little was going right for the Vikings who conceded a second try with Ben Currie's long pass putting Penny over in the corner and Gidley's touchline conversion stretched the lead to 12-0.
Widnes needed a positive response and Mellor obliged with a sizzling burst through the defence after Warrington failed to deal with a high kick with Rhys Hanbury tagging on the goal.
Gidley booted a penalty kick 60 metres to set up the platform for the Aussie stand off to send Westerman spinning his way over to make it 18-6 midway through the first half.
Warrington were clearly in a determined mood after their recent poor run and solid defence held up sub Setaimata Sa over the line.
Westwood took Daryl Clark's pass to stretch over the line for his try after back-to-back penalties with Gidley's fourth conversion adding to Widnes' troubles.
Westerman then went in from short range just before the break with Warrington in total command leading 30-6.
Widnes gave themselves a flicker of hope early in the second half with Thompson going over in the corner from Mellor's long pass.
Those hopes soon disappeared with Penny darting over in the corner for his second try after 56 minutes with Gidley kicking his second conversion off the touchline.
Ratchford piled on the agony for Widnes to stretch the advantage to 42-10.
Marsh scythed through rare poor Warrington defence for the Vikings third try but it was scant consolation with Ratchford still having time to add a second for Warrington and converting his own effort.
