Saints survive Widnes scare

St Helens were forced to withstand a rousing Widnes fightback before booking a spot in the fifth round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup.

Saints appeared on course for a comfortable passage when they opened up a commanding 40-22 lead before a Kurt Haggerty try sparked a late revival from the hosts.

Saints hooker James Roby was then sin-binned for a professional foul and Widnes took full advantage with three late tries from Hep Cahill, Patrick Ah Van and Lloyd White.

Indeed, Widnes would have drawn level had Ah Van's attempted conversion to his own try not hit the post four minutes from time.

After conceding 84 points in Easter defeats by Warrington and Bradford, Widnes knew they had to put their league form behind them and made the ideal start.

Saints were caught cold when Jack Owens linked up smartly to send Ah Van over in the corner after only three minutes.

But Saints hit back immediately when Widnes forward Haggerty's loose pass was snapped up by Anthony Laffranchi with Josh Jones touching down for his first try for the club to restore parity at 4-4.

Wellens goes over

Roby was the instigator of Paul Wellens' try after 14 minutes with his darting run from dummy half sending Lomax clear and the scrum-half converted to fire his side ahead 10-4.

Widnes managed to level courtesy of a magnificent solo try from Rhys Hanbury - the scrum-half taking Jon Clarke's pass before surging past weak tackles from Lance Hohaia and Wellens to touch down under the posts with Ah Van landing the conversion.

Roby was in lively form for Saints who had won three of their last four games under acting coach Mike Rush and Keiron Cunningham and Saints' mounting pressure told after 30 minutes with Lomax sending Chris Flannery through a yawning gap - Lomax's goal putting his side ahead 16-10.

Hohaia stretched over two minutes later for a try awarded by video referee Phil Bentham and Lomax stretched the advantage to 22-10.

Owens saved another try by knocking down a Flannery pass but the Widnes relief was short-lived with substitute Louis McCarthy-Scarsbrook bulldozing over from Roby's pass to make it 28-10 at the break.

White gave the Vikings some hope early in the second half by burrowing over from dummy half to cut the deficit to 28-16.

But Jones' second try ended the Widnes dream with Wellens piling on the agony by collecting a Lomax kick to extend the lead to 40-16 before the frantic finish.