In this N F P match played on 16 Apr 2000 at Dewsbury , the referee was Steve Nicholson, and 2097 people watched. In cold but bright and dry weather, the half time score was 16- 18, and Dewsbury received 10 penalties to Widnes's 4.		GAMESTAR Phil Cantillon
Dewsbury Rams	42
Widnes Vikings	24

12 GOOD MEN FAIL AGAIN

For the second week running, the referee's card decided the match.
In the 60th minute, with Widnes leading 18-24, David Hulme stepped offside just by the Widnes posts, and the visitors had used their last chance. The referee told skipper Paul Mansson that the next offside decision would result in a sinbinning, and he kept to his word. While David Hulme was off the field, Nathan Graham scored twice to give the Rams a lead they never lost.
The game itself was certainly exciting, whichever team you supported. To begin with, we seemed to be watching Dewsbury in fast-forward as every player sprinted at Widnes with tremendous pace. Lacklustre defending let the Rams in for 16 points in as many minutes, and a landslide looked on the cards. But maybe the midweek final against Leigh was beginning to take its toll on the Dewsbury players, as Widnes made an amazing comeback.
Damian Munro took the ball on the right wing, but decided not to give the support on the outside. He took the ball in himself, shrugging off a tackler, before sending Phil Cantillon in for the first try.
In the 24th minute, great work from Karl Long saw the youngster bundled into touch, but not before he had offloaded the ball to Steve Gee. The big forward celebrated his return to the first team by striding across the line for a try.
Just before half-time, Steve brought Widnes level at 16-16, after taking a Mansson pass, strutting over the line unopposed. Liam Jones scored his third goal of the day to make it 18-16 at the break.
In the second half, Dewsbury knew they had work to do and went all out, clawing their way back with a penalty goal, but the improving Widnes defence held them out before making their own way upfield. When a Mansson bomb came down five yards from the line, Afi Leuila used his size to bear down on the fullback, took the ball and gave the supporting Cantillon the easiest of tries under the posts.
But it went wrong from then on. Touch Judges deemed blatant Dewsbury knock-ons in crucial places to have been stolen balls, part of a 10-4 penalty count against the Vikings, and Dewsbury were allowed to come back into it. When Hulme had his rest on the bench, Dewsbury pulled away, and the urgency was removed from the Widnes play. Further tries gave the Dewsbury the very flattering scoreline, but this was disappointing for a young Widnes side which showed remarkable attitude to fightback from the dead, only for technicalities to take it away again.

WIDNES

1. Liam Jones
2. Damian Munro
3. Karl Long
4. Afi Leuila
5. Andy Cheetham
6. Paul Mansson
7. Lee Birdseye
8. Lee Hansen
9. Phil Cantillon
10. Steve Argent
11. Simon Knox
12. Mick Hill
13. David Hulme
14. Karl Fitzpatrick
15. Dave Smith
16. Tommy Hodgkinson
17. Steve Gee