Mercurial Brough orchestrates Giants triumph at Widnes

The Giants have been on the wrong end of some poor score-lines at Stobart Stadium in recent years but not this time as Paul Anderson’s side put in a controlled display that contained some neat finishing and execution.

Brough was the main thorn in the Vikings side with his exquisite kicking and ball-handling and Widnes simply struggled to contain him. He eclipsed the performance of his old half-back partner, Kevin Brown, who could not get Widnes going.

Widnes started brightly enough and went close after six minutes as Dave Allen nearly benefited from Brown’s towering bomb, although the Vikings’ second row could not ground under pressure.

From that handover the Giants launched their first real attack and Brough capitalised on some shoddy defending to create an opening for Ferres – who was not to be denied.

The Vikings hit back straightaway with a powerful solo score from winger Paddy Flynn, who burst his way through to plant the ball down unopposed.

The Giants made the most of some Widnes errors with the ball and launched a string of attacks, with Brough calling the shots.

The mercurial stand-off shaped to throw a long ball and then suddenly stepped off his left foot to go over easily. He added the extras from in front of the posts and was involved again when his beautifully time-delayed ball to Luke Robinson created the gap for Patrick to exploit. The conversion was once again added and at 18-6 it was looking bleak for Widnes.

Huddersfield’s fourth try was only minutes away when Aaron Murphy touched down out wide as Widnes were still shell-shocked from Patrick’s score.

The tries continued to roll in for the visitors as Widnes coughed up more errors. Patrick grabbed another as he barged his way over from a close range. Brough added the conversion to make it 30-6 at the break.

Brough left the field after the job had been completed but Widnes were not done and Stef Marsh got one back as he scorched over in the corner. Then substitute hooker Lloyd White crossed to give Widnes a flicker of hope as Huddersfield switched off.

Any hopes of completing a memorable comeback were extinguished, however, when Ferres made the most of another Vikings’ error to seal victory.

Marsh had the final say with another well-created try for himself out wide and Jack Owens landed the goal, but it was merely a consolation.

Widnes Vikings: Craven, Flynn, Marsh, Phelps, Owens, K. Brown, Mellor, Pickersgill, Clarke, O’Carroll, Dean, Winterstein, Allen. Substitutes: Joseph, Kavanagh, Lawton, White.

Huddersfield Giants: Grix, McGillvary, Cudjoe, Ferres, Murphy, Brough, Robinson, Crabtree, Lunt, Kopczak, Ta’ai, Chan, Ferguson.Substitutes: Faiumu, Patrick, Cording, Dwyer.

Referee: R Hicks (RFL).