The pendulum swung the way of Wakefield who recorded a 28-26 victory over Widnes to leapfrog their opponents in the table.

Kevin Brown scored twice and after a strong ten minute spell it looked as if the Vikings would get the win, but Lee Smith and Oliver Wilkes responded with tries of their own.

The slight underdogs opened the scoring 38 seconds in after Dean Collis broke on the right flank finding hooker, Paul Aiton with an inch perfect inside grubber.

But when Lee Smith made a mess of a simple last tackle play, Kevin Brown duly obliged to palm down the ball, levelling the scores with his first of the evening.

England international, Gareth Hock looked to celebrate his move to Parramatta
with a try but under intense pressure, he spilled the ball in the in-goal area.

Instead the Wildcats pulled back ahead through Tim Smith who spotted an opportunity to show the dummy and dive over himself.

Brown’s kick into the in-goal trickled dead, and from the resultant 20 meter tap, Lee Smith made amends for his earlier error with a half-break downfield.

After referee, Ben Thaler wiped the tackle count down, Ben Cockayne crossed on the left flank to extend his side’s margin to ten points.

Cockayne was close to registering a quickfire double but as he probably expected, the video referee found him guilty of dropping the ball.

Instead, Joe Mellor put the home side back within four points at the break after responding to a Cameron Phelps kick which rebounded off the foot of a Wakefield defender.

Patrick Ah Van was the man to thank for Brown’s second of the evening; he sped down the wing to chase a difficult kick before returning the ball back to sender who tied the scores.

Ah Van was faced with a difficult touchline conversion attempt and came agonisingly close when the ball struck both posts.

At that point the Vikings had no idea as to how unfortunate that miss would be as returning centre, Chris Dean scored to restore a four point advantage with half an hour on the clock.

Their lead lasted for only seven minutes though as Lee Smith dove over amidst claims that there was an obstruction in back play. Sykes added the extras and put his side ahead at 22-20.

Five minutes later, Oliver Wikes put the visitors into an even better position by crashing over the line and Lee Smith’s miss didn’t end up making a difference.

Smith effectively ensured the victory six minutes from time with a penalty goal putting the margin beyond one score but Phil Joseph scored a late consolation on the hooter.

Widnes: Hanbury, Isa, Dean, Phelps, Ah Van, Brown, Mellor, Cross, Clarke, O’Carroll, Hock, Winterstein, Leuluai.
Replacements: Jospeh, White, Pickersgill, Lawton.

T: Brown 2, Mellor, Dean, Joseph
G: Ah Van 3/5


Wakefield: Smith, Fox, Collis, Lyne, Cockayne, Sykes, Smith, Wilkes, Aiton, Raleigh, Lauitiiti, Kirmond, Washbrook.
Replacements: Wood, Amor, Mellars, Annakin.

T: Aiton, Smith, Cockayne, Smith, Wilkes
G: Sykes 3/4, Smith 1/2

Referee: Ben Thaler
Video Referee: Steve Ganson