In this N F P match played on 24 Apr 2000 at Victory Park , the referee was Peter Taberner (Wigan), and 701 people watched. In warm but damp underfoot weather, the half time score was 14- 4.		GAMESTAR Paul Mansson
Lancashire Lynx	14
Widnes Vikings	30

GAME OF TWO HALVES

This was indeed a game of two halves, but in more ways than one. True, the first half belonged to Lancashire Lynx, as they raced to a 14-0 lead, and the second to Widnes who scored 26 unanswered points. But the game was dominated by the two stand off halves, Neil Alexander and Paul Mansson.
Alexander brought about the shock scoreline with two tries, the second one a half-pitch individual effort after breaking the defensive line and no second wave of Vikings defence to trouble him.
Pre-match talk consisted of how many digits Widnes would score, rather than how many points, but all that was made to look very foolish by a Lynx side which belied their usual (but even worse, lately) form and who took the game to an over-relaxed Widnes side. Indeed, rather than just think about weathering the early storm before stamping authority on the match, Widnes fans began to worry about being the laughing stock of the Rugby League world by losing at Victory Park.
Widnes enjoyed an equal share of territory, but they couldn't break the Lynx defence or produce anything resembling an attacking move. Too many easter eggs? It was only Paul Mansson that prevented them having egg all over their faces as he marched over for a trademark try involving a dummy pass.
Liam Jones failed with the conversion, but at least Widnes were off the mark.
The second half was a much better affair from the Vikings' point of view, with 26 points being scored. If the first half had have been more like it, a 52-0 scoreline might have been slightly respectful. But when Mansson shouted to his troops "Nil-all, Widnes! Nil-all!" a half of damage limitation looked on the cards.
Fortunately, Widnes were able to go much further than that. Mansson dummied again to give us his second try, Cantillon got one after good support work, and Chris Murphy was the supersub who crashed over fifteen yards in. Murphy looked eager to run and seemed to have a good eye for the gap, going close on another couple of occasions.
Damien Munro contributed well to the game, running and tackling well in the centre, and he deserved his well-worked try.
But, to be honest, this performance was nothing to write home about, and I would hope that Widnes were guilty solely of playing down to the opposition. Because Doncaster will be a totally different prospect next week, with stars in abundance. They are now at the top of the league, and Widnes will have to be on top form to knock the second league leader from its perch in just over a week. And if David Hulme isn't on the pitch, from where are we going to get our inspiration?

WIDNES

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