Sunday 9th September 2012, 15:00 - Round:27

Widnes Vikings ended with the wooden spoon in their first season back in the Stobart Super League after a thumping derby defeat to Warrington Wolves.

The Vikings needed a shock win over the Carnegie Challenge Cup winners to climb above Castleford Tigers but were outplayed after being level at 6-6 midway through the first half.

Warrington scored 10 tries and the winning margin would have been even more convincing had they not missed four first-half conversion attempts.

Chris Riley and Mickey Higham each grabbed a brace of touchdowns for the Wolves, who host St Helens on Saturday in the play-offs.

Widnes, who had conceded 114 points in two previous defeats by Warrington this season, went into the clash without Hep Cahill following shoulder surgery.

Shaun Briscoe and Danny Craven were left out with Jack Owens, Macgraff Leuluai, Chris Dean and Joe Mellor returning.

Warrington, fresh from a 54-6 romp over Huddersfield Giants, rested skipper Brett Hodgson, Garreth Carvell, Trent Waterhouse and brothers Michael and Joel Monaghan with Ben Westwood still out with after a knee injury sustained in the cup final win over Leeds Rhinos a fortnight ago.

Chris Riley, David Solomona and Tyrone McCarthy were back as Warrington aimed for their seventh win in the last eight Super League matches.

Widnes had won only one of their last five games - against Hull FC three weeks ago - but made a flying start with Frankie Winterstein going over in the corner after four minutes from Jon Clarke’s short pass on the blind-side.

Rhys Hanbury booted the touchline conversion but Warrington were back on level terms after 10 minutes when Higham burrowed over from dummy half and Lee Briers tagged on the goal.

The Vikings, who had lost all five derby meetings since 2004, were certainly not overawed although Paddy Flynn was forced to pull off try-saving tackles on Stefan Ratchford and Riley in quick succession.

But Briers’ long pass to Simon Grix allowed Chris Bridge to hand Rhys Williams a walk-in try midway through the first half to open up a 10-6 advantage.

Widnes faced a bigger task after inspirational play from Ratchford, who burst onto a pass and then kicked ahead for Riley to touchdown after 28 minutes for the 100th try of his career.

Ratchford was in top form and extended the lead when he raced onto an inside pass from Solomona to cross. Briers, after two misses from three goal attempts, handed over the duties to Ratchford who was narrowly off-target aiming to convert his own try.

Solomona added Warrington’s fifth try just before the break to make it 22-6 at half-time with Riley supporting Matty Blythe’s burst straight after the restart to bag his second try with Briers booting the goal.

Blythe was a half-time replacement for the impressive Ratchford, who had linked up superbly from full-back.

Paul McShane notched the Vikings’ second try but was injured in the process and forced to hobble off with a leg injury.

Chris Hill went over as Warrington reasserted their authority before Higham collected his second touchdown from a Williams kick after 66 minutes to make it 40-10.

Widnes refused to throw in the towel with Ben Davies held close before Rhys Hanbury went over for a deserved effort in front of a 8,617 crowd - the Vikings’ biggest of the season.

Warrington wrapped up the convincing win with late tries from Ryan Atkins and Paul Wood - his first of the season - with Solomona booting the final conversion.