SUPER League matches don't come much more thrilling than this.
After 80 absorbing and heat-sapping minutes, Huddersfield and Widnes were locked at 30-30 in a game that deserved 10 out of 10.
That's unlikely to be the mark handed out by Giants coach Tony Smith, who will have raised the temperature even further by blasting his players for throwing away a 30-18 interval lead with a shabby second-half show.
But in terms of helping to generate a truly nail-biting occasion, the errors during a tight and tense final 40 minutes ensured the match will go down as a top-flight classic.
And let's not forget that it was a point the Giants gained without the aid of three of this season's most influential players.
While Widnes coach Neil Kelly had the luxury of fielding a virtually full-strength side, Smith was unable to call on the services of Super League Player of the Month Brandon Costin, club captain Steve McNamara and livewire Paul March.
Surely, with three such experienced players on the field rather than sitting in the stands injured, the Giants would have produced a more sensible and settled second-half performance.
And let's also not forget that this patched-up side helped gain a point which does still keep Huddersfield's top six play-off hopes alive.
In that sense, yesterday's bruised Huddersfield squad deserve full marks, particularly for effort and enthusiasm.
Their first-half display, in particular, was a joy.
Even without Costin, March and McNamara, the Giants were soon clicking into gear and made the perfect start.
With just one minute 40 seconds on the clock, Stanley Gene's kick to the corner was fumbled by Stuart Spruce and Marcus St Hilaire pounced to score for Paul White to land the first of his five goals from six attempts.
Gene and Darren Turner were then held up on the line before the Giants doubled their lead in the sixth minute with a belting Hefin O'Hare try.
The flying Welshman did superbly to collect a Jules O'Neill bomb when forced into his own in-goal area.
He then quickly ran the ball for the tap restart on the 20m line, turned on the gas to escape the clutches of Daniel Frame and then outpaced the cover to score by the posts.
With six minutes on the clock, the Giants were in dreamland at 12-0.
Poor defence enabled Adam Hughes to send Paul Devlin over for the first of the Vikings' five tries - all of which were converted by Jules O'Neill - to half the deficit five minutes later.
But within three minutes the lead was back up to 12.
Dan Potter dropped the ball from the restart and from the resulting scrum Gene charged through with embarrassing ease for White to add the extras off the left post.
Julian Bailey was unlucky to have a try disallowed when Jarrod O'Doherty's tryscoring pass was ruled forward moments later.
However, there was nothing to deny the Australian centre in the 19th minute.
Another Gene grubber kick failed to be gathered cleanly by the Widnes defence and Bailey pounced in between Spruce and Devlin to score.
On this occasion, White failed to convert, but at 22-6 few were complaining.
Ben Roarty came desperately close to further extending that lead two minutes later when he just failed to collect Gene's `bomb' in the Vikings' in-goal area.
And it was a miss that Widnes were able to capitalise on with some purpose.
The introduction of former Fartown favourite Anthony Farrell and Phil Cantillon had injected new life into the visitors' challenge and by the 30th minute Cantillon had twice shot over from dummy half to make it 22-18.
A White penalty in the 36th minute helped swing the game back in the Giants' favour before they finished the half in spectacular style.
When Paul Reilly collected the ball on halfway, his path looked to be blocked all around.
But suddenly, he spotted a gap and raced through to leave the defence trailing in his wake and score under the posts.
With White's fifth successful goal the Giants were deservedly 30-18 ahead.
But the second half proved a completely different story.
After Widnes had kept up the early rapid scoring rate with Devlin's second try within four minutes of the restart, defences began to get on top.
Last-ditch tackles denied both sides from adding to their tally during a compelling 20-minute period and in the 67th minute Gene's attempted drop goal was charged down as the Giants sought the luxury of a seven-point cushion.
But in the 69th came the final key moment.
Reilly, who had returned from injury in outstanding form, was unable to collect a towering kick from Jules O'Neill under immense pressure on his own 20.
From the resultant scrum, the ball was worked out for Jason Demetriou to cross in the corner and for the ice-cool O'Neill to add the goal.
O'Neill then saw two drop goal attempts fail before, on the final play of the game, White collected Mick Slicker's neat chip over and sped away before being hauled down by the defence.
It was an exciting finale to what had been a thrilling encounter.
MATCH FACTS
KEY MAN: Stanley Gene
IN tropical conditions more akin to his native Papua New Guinea, Stanley Gene turned up the heat against Widnes with a super first-half performance to guarantee the Giants a share of the points. Unfortunately, Gene and his teammates were unable to maintain the pressure later on.
KEY MOMENT
THE excellent Paul Reilly was unable to hold a high ball under immense pressure on his own 20 with 11 minutes remaining. From the resulting scrum, the ball was fed out to Jason Demetriou to score the equalising try.
KEY STATS
Huddersfield Giants. Tries: St Hilaire (1min), O'Hare (6mins), Gene (14mins), Bailey (19mins), Reilly (39mins). Goals: White 5 from 6.
Widnes Vikings. Tries: Devlin (11mins & 44mins), Cantillon (25mins & 30mins), Demetriou (69mins). Goals: O'Neill 5 from 5.
Half-time: 30-18.
Referee: Richard Silverwood (Mirfield).
Attendance: 4,140.
Scrums won: Huddersfield 8, Widnes 11.
Penalties conceded: Huddersfield 7, Widnes 6.
Next story
