< Back

Bradford Bulls 38 - Widnes Vikings 26

Sunday 5th August 2012

 

Bradford Bulls 38 - Widnes Vikings 26

A 38-26 defeat at Bradford may well have been regarded as a decent result for Widnes earlier in the season. But one suspects they will look back on this game with a sense of frustration over what might have been.

Widnes were without injury victims Ben Cross, Joe Mellor, Shaun Briscoe and Eamonn O'Carroll. Young forward Alex Gerrard came in on the bench with Danny Craven starting at stand-off.

 

A massive cloud burst prior to kick-off certainly freshened up the Odsal surface and several players had some difficulty holding their feet.

Widnes were quicker into their stride and opened the scoring on five minutes when Patrick Ah Van managed to plant the ball down in the corner despite some committed Bradford cover. Rhys Hanbury converted superbly from wide out.

The lead was doubled to 12-0 when prop Ben Davies finished off a move just to the left of the posts. Despite plenty of opinion to the contrary amongst the home crowd, referee Steve Ganson correctly adjudged that Davies was not held in a tackle as he rolled over the line.

 

Bradford hit back with virtually their first real attack of the match.

A couple of dummy-runners sucked in the Vikings defence on their left hand side and Bulls centre Michael Platt was allowed an easy run-in.

 

Despite that setback, Widnes increased their lead on 21 minutes.

Taking full advantage of a ball turned-over in midfield, quick hands by the Vikings engineered an overlap on the right.

Using Willie Isa as a foil, Danny Craven dummied his way past Bulls winger Karl Pryce and showed good pace to outsprint the defence to the corner.

 

At 16-4, Widnes fans may have thought their team was set fair for victory. The home side had other ideas and hit a purple patch which saw them cross for three tries in ten minutes.

Fullback Brett Kearney notched the first after backing up a break from the dangerous Keith Lulia and he was quickly followed over the whitewash by Shaun Ainscough on the right and Ben Jeffries up the middle.

It looked like the Bulls would carry a 22-16 team into the break but just as the hooter sounded Hanbury capitalised on a spell of Widnes pressure to pull four points back.

 

For a spell at the start of the second period it looked like both sides were doing their best to lose the game.

Handling error followed handling error with no team managing to exert consistent pressure on the opposition line.

Bradford dummy-half Heath L'Estrange finally re-engaged the scoreboard operators, though given the number of Widnes defenders in attendance as he burrowed over from close range one could legitimately ask how.

Platt pushed the Bulls lead out to 32-20 when he took advantage of another overlap situation on 62 minutes.

 

Widnes needed the next score to maintain a foothold in the game and it came as Ah Van tricked his way over to complete a brace and added a fine goal from wide out.

But that was about as good as it got for the Vikings.

 

Bradford dominated field-position in the latter stages and a although they failed with a couple of drop-goal attempts they were not to be denied.

Ainscough flopped over for his second try to seal matters as the heavens opened with a deluge that made the earlier downpour look like an April shower.

Bradford: Kearney; Ainscough, Platt, Lulia, Pryce; Jeffries, Gale; Kopczak, L'Estrange, Hargreaves, Olbison, Whitehead, Langley. Subs: Addy, Manuofakoa, Walker, Burgess.

 

Widnes: Phelps; Isa, Marsh, Dean, Ah Van; Craven, Hanbury; Davies, McShane, Pickersgill, Winterstein, Allen, Cahill. Subs: Clarke, Kite, Haggerty, Gerrard.

Referee: S Ganson

Attendance: 10,261

 

Image by Ste Jones