: Sun Feb 22, 2009 8:42 am
It was seven tries to four and no-one can deny that Widnes were stronger than Gateshead. Widnes got away to a great start with two early tries from Jim Gannon and Scott Yates (who raced away downfield virtually from the restart thanks to the running of improving Paddy Flynn on a high speed move) which both came during a period when the Thunder were reduced to twelve men following the sinbinning of Dylan Nash.
Just before the tries Gateshead lost the services of fullback Ben McAlpine while Gavin Dodd saw a chip over the line come to nothing and Lee Doran was held up.
Thunder fought back with a try of their own when Neil Thorman went over on the right and this try was converted by impressive scrum half Luke Branighan, but the Vikings dominated and made a couple of linebreaks which came to nothing when the final pass didn't go to hand.
Indeed Widnes had to wait until the 24th minute to add to their lead when Gannon scored his second try for Yates to convert. Nash saw a try disallowed at one end for Thunder whilst a final pass to Flynn was deemed forward and prevented the wingman from scoring.
Ben Kavanagh was then denied thanks to an excellent tackle from stand-in fullback Rhys Clarke.
Gateshead were competing well with Nash, Branighan and Jamie Cording well to the fore until former Casteford prop Jason Payne was sinbinned in the last minute of the first half.
Thunder held firm until the 46th minute when Mark Smith darted from dummy half 30 metres out and linked with John Duffy. He carried the move forward before an unselfish offload put Toa Kohe-Love over.
Jut two minutes later, Widnes found the scoring groove again when Anthony Thackeray offloaded in a tackle and substitute Matt Strong switched direction and dived through from close range.
Yates added his fifth goal before spirited Gateshead replied. Now back on the field Payne tried to make amends for his sinbinning and ran the ball strongly before Branighan and Nash linked with Joe Arundel with two long passes and the on-loan centre got in at the corner.
Widnes kicked on again when back to back penalties gave them good field position and Thackeray split the defence with a great pass that saw Richard Fletcher steam over after 54 minutes. Yates struck the post with his conversion attempt.
Gateshead went on the attack with Michael Knowles dislodging the ball in a takle but Thunder failed to take advantage when Nash was held up over the line.
A seventh try followed for the Vikings when Thackeray took on the defence only to be hauled down short of the goal line. Gannon moved into dummy half and forced himself over for a rare prop forward hat-trick. This time Yates converted and the scoreline was hoisted to 40-10 in the Vikings favour.
The hosts threatened to cut loose again and one enterprising attack brought the crowd to their feet when Dodd set James Webster loose on the left and supported in field only for Clarke and Robin Peers to chase him down and force an error..
After 67 minutes Gateshead claimed their third try when Branighan kicked ahead for Stewart Sanderson to chase and the nippy winger beat defenders to the ball before having the pace to get away from their attempted tackles.
Three minutes later scrum half Branighan was in the thick of things again. He punted the ball high in midfield, ran on to collect before this time angling a further kick to the right. Arundel got around Webster and toed the ball on again before touching down.
The open-ness of the game continued in the last ten minutes but neither side cracked and it finished 40-18.
