North Wales Crusaders were on the wrong side of the leger as the Vikings claimed their first Championship win of the season with a 28-14 victory at the DCBL Stadium.
North Wales Crusaders battled through difficult conditions before the hosts closed the game in style in the final quarter to pull clear on a showery afternoon. It was the visitors who opened the scoring after Widnes failed to deal with a kick in behind, allowing Jordan Gibson to gather the bouncing ball and touch down.The response was swift though, as Jumah Sambou finished acrobatically in the corner following some neat interplay between Jordan Abdull and Joe Edge. Sambou doubled his tally minutes later, cleverly kicking on a loose pass from Abdull before winning the race to ground the ball out wide.North Wales reduced the deficit to two points on the stroke of half-time when Greg Eden strolled over in the corner from a looping Declan Patton pass.
Crusaders then edged back in front early in the second half, with Luke Forber diving in at the corner after a break from Lloyd Roby. Widnes rallied in the final third, reclaiming the lead through a textbook hooker’s try from Matty Fozard, before Adam Lawton powered over from close range. The Vikings put the seal on the victory five minutes from time, as Jack Owens delayed his pass to perfection to send Nathan Connell over for the decisive score.
Excitement now turns to the Cup, as we welcome Leigh Leopards on a day which has already seen Away standing sell-out with a new record to be set at Stadiwm:Eirias
Tickets can be found here: https://platform.justtikit.com/seller/north-wales-crusaders-1qu8
Widnes Vikings: Connell, Ince, Owens, Edge, Sambou, Lyons, Abdull, Murray, Johnstone, Chapelhow, Wilde, Langtree, Gregson
Interchanges: Fozard, McWhirter, Lawton, Bibby, Hall (18th)
Tries: Sambou x2, Fozard, Lawton, Connell
Goals: Abdull x4
North Wales Crusaders: Roby, Brookes, Hatton, Spedding, Forber, Patton, Gibson, Barratt, Eaves, Ioane, England, Foster, Addy
Interchanges: Walker, Moran, Baldwin, Eden, Westwood (18th)
Tries: Gibson, Eden, Forber
Goals: Patton
ATTENDANCE: 4018