It was a very handy win for the Widnes Vikings, as they recorded a 38-12 win over the London Broncos and achieved the double over the London-based club.
With a host of youngsters playing in the game and given opportunities, it was their performance and resolve that pleased Widnes coach Denis Betts the most, particularly the game of Adam Lawton.
Lawton, who is still just a teenager and relatively new to the Super League scene scored a hat-trick, with a total of five of Widnes’ tries coming from local academy products.
With a win crucial for the club, Betts and his players knew that they had work to do.
“We needed a win,” Betts said.
“That over anything else was really important.
“We wanted to keep their score down and get the job done ourselves. We delivered and to be honest we could have scored more.
“Adam Lawton has always had potential. He’s a big lad with lots of skill but there a lot of work to do still. We have a good future with the likes of him, Jack Owens and Grant Gore coming through.
Although there are still areas to improve on, it was a performance that left Volume Pills Betts a happy man heading into future fixtures.
“There was a little bit of inconsistency there in our game but overall I’m pleased. We have to make sure we are tight in certain areas, we still have to improve.
“What you see is what you get with our lads. Sometimes we fall short but it’s not through lack of trying.”
It was a different story for the Broncos, however, with the club missing several high-profile players in Michael Witt, Tony Clubb, Jamie Soward and Michael Robertson.
With their performance not the best, you would think that the club has one eye on their upcoming Challenge Cup semi-final, as London coach Tony Rea admitted his side just could not adapt to the late changes.
“We spent the first half adjusting to late changes in our team,” Rea said. “We spent the half getting to know each other. We chased the game and got caught out.
“The Challenge Cup game with Wigan is another day. We had our eye on this game with Widnes but it’s this time of the year, teams have injuries.
“If it was a final some of them would have played but no one was rested tonight.”