Wakefield cruised to a 34-12 victory over Widnes in their Magic Weekend clash. Get the full report and reaction.
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Match stats: Widnes 12-34 Wakefield
Widnes tries: Ince (47), Cahill (76)
Conversions: Chamberlain (47, 76)
Wakefield tries: Grix (19, 33), Lyne (22), Jones-Bishop (42, 68), Ashurst (74)
Conversions/Penalties: Finn (19, 33, 42, 61, 74)
Match report
Wakefield maintained their challenge for a first-ever top-four finish in the Betfred Super League with an impressive 34-12 rout of bottom club Widnes in the opening game of the Dacia Magic Weekend in Newcastle.
Not even the arrival of Rangi Chase could lift the Vikings out of the doldrums as their patched-up side paid the price for an error-strewn first half at St James' Park.
Chase, who has joined Widnes on loan from Castleford, made a low-key debut alongside two other borrowed players, winger Jack Johnson and second rower Sam Wilde, as coach Denis Betts seeks an end to his club's season-long struggle.
They were out of contention by half-time, when they trailed 16-0, before upping their game in the second half while an impressive performance from young winger Ryan Ince provided another crumb of comfort for the Widnes fans.
Wakefield were good value for only their fourth win in 11 Magic Weekend appearances and a second convincing victory of the season over the Vikings lifted them up to fifth in the table.
Click here for all the Magic Weekend results and the updated Super League table
Trinity were the livelier side from the start but it took them 17 minutes to open the scoring and they needed a slice of good fortune to help them on their way.
Chase's first meaningful contribution was an unfortunate one as Wakefield right winger Ben Jones-Bishop picked off his pass to race upfield. Ince showed tremendous pace to get back and pull off a tackle but it only delayed the inevitable, with full-back Scott Grix forcing his way over two plays later for the first of his two tries.
Five minutes later Widnes prop Gil Dudson handed over possession on his own 20-metre line and watched his side's defence open up invitingly for centre Reece Lyne to stroll through for Wakefield's second try.
Another handling error, this time from Johnson, near his own line helped Wakefield maintain the pressure and it told seven minutes before the break when they moved the ball out to the left where Grix dummied his way over for his second try.
Liam Finn's touchline conversion made it 16-0 and the Vikings' misery was compounded by the sin-binning of replacement hooker Lloyd White for a dangerous tackle on winger Mason Caton-Brown.
Widnes were still down to 12 men when Wakefield capitalised on another crucial handling error by their opponents a minute into the second half, with Grix's pass giving Jones-Bishop an unopposed dive to the corner.
Another touchline conversion from Finn made it 22-0 but Widnes pulled a try back five minutes later when centre Ed Chamberlain cleverly worked some space for 20-year-old Ince, who sidestepped Grix to score his first try for the club.
Chamberlain added the goal and the score breathed new life into the Vikings, who looked the better team for long periods of the second half.
They managed to put Wakefield under intense pressure for the first time but without finding the composure to make it count.
Finn increased his side's lead with a 62nd-minute penalty and Wakefield wrapped up the victory when a delightful pass out of the tackle by Lyne enabled Jones-Bishop to grab his second try.
Second rower Matty Ashurst swooped on a stray pass from Chase to go over for Wakefield's sixth try and Finn kicked his fifth goal before loose forward Hep Cahill grabbed a late consolation for the Vikings.
Match reaction
Wakefield coach Chris Chester on whether his side can continue their superb season: "I'm delighted. We came here to do a job and we got the two points. I thought we were pretty ruthless in the first half. We completed really well, about 89 per cent in the first half. It was a great effort.
"Widnes came back at us in the second half but I thought we had done enough. We were pretty resilient, we scrambled really well, and the guys kept turning up for each other. I thought our whole pack was a real handful.
"We've flown under the radar but we're not doing too bad. I don't think we've quite hit our straps yet, I think there is a lot more in us. The guys are really believing in what we're doing. You can see they enjoy each other's company.
"We're playing well and I still feel there's another notch to us. We've put ourselves in a really good position to finish in the six and we want to push higher now.
"We've a very important month coming up. We've some tricky games coming up but I'm confident if we can continue the way we are playing, that we can finish in the top four."
Denis Betts on Widnes' lack of adequate preparation: "We were good in patches. On attack we looked like a side that had five blokes that we'd spent only two hours with this week. We had a completely new half-back pairing and it was tough.
"Rangi was not used to the calls, not used to the players around him. He had a couple of training sessions and it showed. We showed lot of determination and stayed in the fight for a long time.
"They scored a couple of breakaway tries from us trying to score points. The lads are hurting. Wakefield are a side that's going well but we allowed them opportunities which they took. We're in a hole."
On 20-year-old winger Ryan Ince, who pulled off a tremendous tackle to deny Jones-Bishop a try in the first half: "There's a lot of quality about him. At the moment our best players on the field are our academy kids."
Click here for all the Magic Weekend results and the updated Super League table
