CHEETHAM THE CHEETAH

After worries of being ignored by the Widnes playmakers, Andy Cheetham scored his first Widnes hat-trick in a game that was more of a Vikings confidence booster than anything else.
There were a lot of memories of last season's encounter at the Huntington Stadium, when Widnes were beginning their successful run of victories. At the time, York were a strong outfit, but Widnes triumphed 25-10 on a hot June afternoon. This year, however, they have only managed victories against Sheffield Eagles and a couple of amateur outfits.
But they had pushed Dewsbury close and Widnes were enduring a turbulent couple of weeks so it was anybody's guess as to who would win...
Widnes fans had the first joy after 1.5 minutes when Chris Percival shot through a gap in the defence and ran most of the York half to score his first league try of the season. A beautiful touchline conversion from Simon Verbickas gave the travelling Widnes fans even more the cheer about.
But Booth's try and conversion brought York back into it three minutes later. And, gee'd on by this, York attacked again and a high bomb saw Munro given no protection as he tried to gather. The ball went over the line and York pounced, but a previous knock-on was given. That fright gone, it was Widnes's turn to be gee'd on. When David Hulme ran to the left wing, he offloaded in the tackle to provide Steve Gee with a pass to storm through with a try and a dive that Garry Schofield would have been proud of.
Cantillon broke through on the quarter hour mark and showed his searing pace to score under the posts.
Then came another Paul Mansson individual effort. He broke away down the left touchline. As he slowed to draw the man and deliver a pass to the rapidly advancing Verbickas, he was able to skip outside the defender and avoid the touchline before going over for a length of the pitch try.
Percival doubled his season's tally with another scorcher after Hansen had broken through and was given all the time in the world to send Percy through.
Ten minutes from the break, the ball was passed along the line to Andy Cheetham who had nobody to trouble him as he went over in the corner.
At the half-time break, Verbickas was taking a lot of flak from Vikings and Wasps fans but in all honesty, many of these kicks were difficult. All the easy ones, and some tricky ones, were converted, but people expect Mark Hewitt-standard, and you can't have that all the time.
The second half looked to be a different kettle of fish from the first as York began like a totally different side. They took the ball at pace, making life difficult for hapless Widnes defenders. Two tries in the first six minutes of the half saw the half-time deficit of 22 reduced to just ten.
But Widnes slowly came back into it and Karl Fitzpatrick came on to the field. York's Matt Woodcock lay injured on the floor having spilled the ball, but you have to play to the whistle, and Fitzpatrick scooped up the ball and raced down to the corner to score.
That spelled the end for York, and the end of the game belonged to Widnes. Andy Cheetham showed the speed he hasn't shown since the start of the season. He took the ball in the Widnes half and outpaced the centre. The York winger got a hand to him, but the Devereux-esque strength ensured that he had enough to get away. His second, on 70 minutes, was after good work from Munro. A brief surge in form showed us what Munro did last season. He took a loose ball and sprinted down the left wing only to come inside when confronted by a defender. In the resultant move, Cheetham completed his hat-trick.
And temporary-coach David Hulme rounded things off eight minutes from time when he did what he does best. He supported Cantillon on his umpteenth break, and dived over for a lovely try.
York may not have provided much of a contest, but to score 50 points is a fine achievement. Especially when you consider that Workington, Sheffield and Oldham weren't much good either. We won, and we did so convincingly, with a ten-try rout. Bring on the Bulldogs!