Cougars 24, Widnes 22

There is definitely spring in the air -- and a spring in the step at Cougar Park.

After winning three out of the last four games, it may be the old cat has woken up from a deep winter slumber, there were signs the hibernation is over at last.

The match was a real thriller and it's good to see fans returning, more games like this and the crowds will be flocking back.

The Cougar performance was far from faultless, but it was full of commitment, a commitment that saw them ride out a very shaky last seven minutes. Twice in the final quarter they led by eight points, twice they let Widnes get back to within two points, it was really nailbiting stuff.

There was never much in it. The pattern was set early on, a try each inside six minutes signalled what lay ahead. Christian Tyrer was one of the architects of his old side's downfall, and he set up the first try with a lovely chip-kick collected in the corner by Jason Lee, too far out for Martin Wood to convert.

Widnes hit back. Lukeni Savelio burst the Cougar line, passed onto Damien Munro and he raced 80 metres for a fine solo effort.

Mark Hewitt landed the first of his five goals, then added a penalty but the Cougars never looked to be struggling.

They were guilty of forcing the pass, wasting good field position with a string of errors on the last tackle. The otherwise superb Tyrer threw two straight into touch before he set up his side's second try with another well judged kick to the left corner, Lee again the man on the spot. Wood again struggled out wide, and the scores were level at 8-8. But not for long, Hewitt landing a 48 metre wind assisted penalty to give Widnes a 10-8 lead at the break.

The Cougars had slope and field in their favour in the second half, and undoubtedly it helped. But they weren't far off in the first and only really had to control the ball better to gain the initiative. It was noticeable that when errors and indiscipline crept into their game they put themselves under pressure.

They go the second half off to a great start, Wood's neat short pass putting the in-form Nathan Antonik through for a third Cougar try. The fourth soon followed, Tyrer and Jason Ramshaw worked their way to the line, Tyrer put a grubber in from acting half, it pinballed around a couple of Widnes defenders before the stand off got to it. Wood was happy that it was under the sticks, and the Cougars looked to be pulling clear.

Widnes would have none of it. Gareth Adams landed on a Hewitt kick, and the latter converted to make the score 18-16 with 15 minutes to go.

What followed next was something special.

Tyrer lofted a superb kick to the corner. It hung for ages, Jason Critchley waited to collect, but before it got near him Matt Foster raced 30 metres, jumped superbly to catch the ball and run in for the try of the game. The conversion was landed and again the Cougars led by eight, again Widnes hit back.

Once again Adams forced his way over, Hewitt converted, and with seven minutes left it was a real whiteknuckle ride, despite a couple of errors and one or two disputable calls from the referee the Cougars hung on for two well deserved points.

Special mention should go to the Cougar pack, to a man they were superb against the huge Widnes forwards. They took them on and came out on top, led by Steve Hall who had his best game for quite a few years.

Cougars: Foster; Wainwright, Rich, Laurence, Lee; Tyrer, Antonik; Hall (Smits 53), Ramshaw, Stephenson (S Campbell 40), Larder (M Campbell 40), Schick, (Larder 65), Wood.

Widnes Vikings: Salisbury (Myler 40); Cross, Percival, Critchley; Munroe, Devicchi (O'Loughlin 70), Hewitt; Hansen (Adams 48), Cantillon, Reid (Man 13), Harris, Savilo, Cassidy.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.