Cantillon caps Widnes win with 100th try

Widnes 26 Castleford

Widnes produced their best home win in Super League so far at Halton Stadium last night, with their hooker, Phil Cantillon, stressing his value by scoring his 100th try for the club.

Coming after their heavy defeat by St Helens, the Widnes coach, Neil Kelly, had called this their most important game of the season so far. They started smoothly enough by taking the lead through Barry Eaton's penalty, but they were behind within four minutes when Barrie-Jon Mather did well to get his pass out to Jon Wells and Wayne Bartrim converted from the touchline.

Eaton kicked another penalty, but it was Castleford, desperately poor themselves in their defeat by Wakefield last time out, who were making all the attacking running, with Danny Orr finding a gap for a solo try after 15 minutes.

Widnes badly needed a spark from somewhere, which they got when Steve McCurrie charged through midfield and found Stuart Spruce in support. The full-back was caught by Wayne Pryce, but picked himself up to go the last few yards.

Suitably inspired, Widnes took the lead before half-time, Craig Weston kicking across field for Jason Demetriou to outjump Pryce and Eaton adding the goal from the wing.

Eaton kicked Widnes further ahead early in the second-half, but it was Cantillon who tipped the balance by timing his century of tries to perfection. It was a typical Cantillon try, picking up from dummy-half and accelerating through a gap.

After Bartrim had landed another goal for Castleford, Cantillon turned provider for David Mills to power over.

Andy Johnson's try and Bartrim's goal took the margin to six points just after the hour. That made for a tense final quarter, much of which saw Castleford pounding the Widnes line, but Steve Carter, in his first match after ankle surgery, produced a vital tackle on Orr as they threatened an equaliser.

Widnes: Spruce; Demetriou, Potter, Hughes, Percival; Weston, Eaton; Relf, Cantillon, Stone, Farrell, McCurrie, Frame. Substitutes used: O'Neill, Carter, Mills.

Castleford: Rogers; Wells, Mather, Eagar, Pryce; Orr, Healey; Sykes, Bartrim, Rainey, Smith, Fritz, Hudson. Substitutes used: Sampson, Harland, Johnson, Warren.

Referee: K Kirpatrick (Warrington).