Wood and Appo inspire Warrington's advance

Warrington 30 Widnes 16

Warrington vaulted above their local rivals for a play-off place with five tries in 20 minutes either side of half-time - all of them involving Nathan Wood and Graham Appo.

In a nervous opening both sides wasted chances, as Warrington's Ian Sibbit and Deon Bird of Widnes passed into touch with overlaps waiting.

Widnes were the first to score, Robert Relf barging over. They should have had a second, but Jason Demetriou put down a pass from Jules O'Neill. O'Neill, who had earlier landed the conversion, then kicked a penalty.

The stand-off added another two points as Widnes threatened to take control, but the complexion of the game changed on the half hour. Warrington finally clicked when Appo was felled by a high tackle from Andy Hay. A quickly-taken penalty allowed Nathan Wood to send his namesake Paul barging over.

Almost immediately, the Wolves scored again, Nathan Wood once more providing the telling pass, this time for the newly-signed full-back,Daryl Cardiss, to score his first try for the club. Appo's conversion levelled the scores.

Warrington continued their surge in the second half with Sid Domic scoring after Appo and Brent Grose made the break. Appo scored himself before providing the pass that set up Nathan Wood again.

Widnes made a late fight of it when Stuart Spruce went over, but were finally condemned when Ben Westwood scored to remove all doubt.

Warrington: Cardiss, Westwood, Grose, Sibbit, Gaskell, Appo, N Wood, Fozzard, Clarke, Hilton, Burns, P Wood, Domic. Subs used: Hulse, Gleeson, Guisset, Stevens.

Widnes: Spruce, Devlin, Hughes, Demetriou, Potter, Jules O'Neill, Sheridan, Ralf, Millard, Julian O'Neill, Hay, Frame, Bird. Subs used: Cantillon, Finnegan, Farrell, Mills.

Ref: R Smith (Castleford).