Spruce keeps Widnes in sight of play-offs
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Your support makes all the difference.Widnes recorded a Super League double over Warrington with a 24-18 victory in a passionate derby at the Halton Stadium yesterday.
The two points sees them leapfrog London Broncos, who beat Hull 46-32 on Saturday night, back into sixth spot in the Super League table.
With seven minutes remaining the game was in the balance as the Vikings held a 20-18 lead but they made sure of victory when Steve Carter raced 60 metres to set up the position for Stuart Spruce to grab his second try of the game.
In a see-saw first half, which saw the lead change hands on five occasions, Warrington built up a 14-12 advantage at half-time. It could have been more but for Lee Briers missing two goals.
Widnes were on level terms just two minutes after the restart when Barry Eaton kicked a penalty from 35m and the Vikings then took the lead when Adam Hughes touched down Craig Weston's kick to make it 18-14.
The Wolves drew level 12 minutes from time when a break by Darren Burns allowed Nathan Wood to sprint 40 minutes to touch down.
Briers continued his failures with the boot, finishing with one success from five attempts. Not that Widnes were any better, being successful with four of their nine.
The Vikings edged back in front when Hughes kicked a penalty and then Spruce sealed the win with his late try.
The Widnes coach Neil Kelly paid tribute to his forwards. "Our forwards were outstanding in the hot conditions and that says a lot about the players' fitness and commitment," he said.
London kept up their play-off aspirations with a thrilling comeback against fourth-placed Hull at Griffin Park on Saturday, sharing 14 tries in a topsy-turvy encounter.
Having opened the scoring after 72 seconds, London found themselves trailing by 18 points at one stage before staging a remarkable recovery.
"I looked at the score midway through the first half and thought that we were a good team," said the Hull coach Shaun McRae. "That was until we imploded in the second half. I saw the signs at half-time and tried to pass it on to the players – but getting it across was difficult."
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