Workington Town found out in no uncertain fashion how tough life is going to be in the Betfred Championship when they went down 68-18 at Widnes.
The Vikings were just too fast and powerful for the Cumbrians who tried hard and battled to the end but were outclassed.
Half-backs Matty Smith and Danny Craven were slick and controlled the game virtually from the start, but Town didn’t help themselves by giving away too many penalties.
Last season Brad Holroyd was running in tries for Workington and he moved to Widnes during the winter and the winger opened up with a try on three minutes for the Vikings. Joe Edge landed the conversion, the first of his 10 goals.
Widnes were soon in again on eight minutes with Olly Davies crossing and it was better than a point a minute when Sam Wilde went in for a third on 13 minutes. Edge’s two further conversions made it 18-0.
But Town dug in and seemed to have weathered the early storm as Conor Fitzsimmons crossed for a try which Carl Forber converted.
They were hit, however after 35 minutes when Craven, who spent time on loan with Town early in his career, squeezed over and worse was to follow when a Matty Fozard try and Edge conversion took Widnes to 30 points for the half.
There was, however, a positive finish by the visitors and almost on the hooter their best forward Caine Barnes powered through for their second try which Forber converted.
With 18 points in it Town were looking to score first on the re-start but within four minutes Adam Lawton scored sixth try for Widnes.
Unfortunately for Workington they lost Forber with a twisted ankle and when Joe Brown got through for a third try it was Oscar Thomas who banged over the kick.
That was Town’s last success and it proved to be a long final quarter for the Cumbrians as Widnes finished the contest with 12 tries as they sliced through the tiring Town defence.
Workington just couldn’t keep the ball for long enough and made too many unforced area deep in their own half against a side capable of posing problems with ball in hand.
Lawton (2), Craven, Matt Fleming, Wilde and Tyler Dupree all went in for further tries to complete the rout.
