There has not been too much cheer for teams wearing black and white here lately, but Widnes kicked off Magic Weekend in style as they hammered 12-man Salford in the opening match of the event.
The Vikings were wearing a special Newcastle United-themed shirt to raise money for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and the club handed over a cheque for £20,000 to the charity before kick-off. Inspired by a magical performance and a hat-trick from their returning captain, Kevin Brown, Widnes solidified their place inside the top eight with a fourth consecutive win.
“We’re competing against sides around us at the moment, which makes these matches really important,” said the Widnes coach, Denis Betts. “We need to keep building and keep going because we’re putting a good run together.
“Kevin’s enjoying playing at the moment, and the platform we’re laying around him really helps.”
Salford’s chances were effectively scuppered when Darrell Griffin became the sixth player in the history of Magic Weekend to be sent off, after he was shown a red card by James Child for a dangerous tackle just before half-time. Griffin and his younger brothers, Josh and George, were on the field together for the first time, after agreeing to play on just days after the death of their father.
Salford were on the ropes before the red card and, despite a brief flurry in the second half, they always seemed destined for defeat.
“We’re crucifying ourselves at the moment. Credit to Kevin Brown, though; he was terrific and ran the show for them,” said the Salford coach, Iestyn Harris. “I thought it was a harsh sending-off for Darrell. There was no malice in it and it was probably a yellow card.”
Corey Paterson nudged Salford in front early on with a well-worked try, but from then on in the first half it was all Widnes. Two tries from Patrick Ah Van as well as the first of Brown’s trio and a score from Danny Galea made it 20-4 before the telling moment of the match.
Griffin swung an arm at Matt Whitley and Child deemed it to be worthy of a sending-off, marking a poignant and emotional day for the Griffin family for all the wrong reasons.
That came right on half-time, and although Greg Johnson and Ben Jones-Bishop tries gave them hope, Widnes always seemed in control of the match. Brown completed his hat-trick with two magnificent individual finishes before Stefan Marsh completed the rout with Widnes’ eighth try.
