Battling Huddersfield Giants overcame the 12th-minute dismissal of Brett Ferres to celebrate a fantastic Super League success at Widnes Vikings.
Just like in last week’s win over Warrington Wolves, coach Paul Anderson’s heroes were forced to dig incredibly deep to secure another precious win in their battle to secure a top-four Super League spot.
Trailing 10-6 at half-time with a man down, the Giants weren’t looking in the best of shape to record what would have been just their second win in six years on the Widnes i-pitch.
But their second-half showing defied almost all of the odds, giving the impression that it was the Vikings who were playing with just the 12 men.
As a result, it has to go down as one of the Giants’ grittiest displays of the year.
The first half really couldn’t have started much worse for the visitors, whose initial play was loose in the extreme.
On Widnes’ first foray inside Huddersfield territory, Jodie Broughton and Jared Simpson made a mess of dealing with a high kick and were forced to drop out.
And within moments the hosts took full advantage as Kevin Brown’s long pass put Patrick Ah Van over in the corner.
Although Jack Owens failed to convert, it already looked like it could be a difficult afternoon.
Unfortunately, that was reinforced in the 12th minute with Ferres’s dismissal.
After Rhys Hanbury had spilt possession on halfway with a clear run ahead of him, the full-back kept on hacking the loose ball ahead, resulting in a tangle between himself, Simpson and Ferres.
As the players got to their feet, the Giants vice captain threw a punch at Hanbury and a brawl ensued before Ferres was shown the red card by Richard Silverwood.
In an instant, the uphill battle had become much, much steeper.
But credit to the remaining 12 who kept on battling away and were finally rewarded on the half hour when the ball was kept alive for Jamie Ellis’s inside pass to send substitute Ukuma Ta’ai charging over with just his second touch of the contest.
Danny Brough converted and the visitors had the lead.
That, however, was to be shortllived, with Ta’ai turning from hero to villain by conceding a cheap penalty when in possession, and the Vikings taking full advantage from the subsequent set as Joe Mellor put Owens in for a try which he converted from the touchline to make it 10-6 at the break.
The Giants couldn’t have made a better start to the second half, however, with Kruise Leeming’s reverse pass on the line on the last tackle enabling Craig Kopczak to dive over in front of the vocal claret and gold fans.
Brough goaled and it was 12-10.But that lead was also short-lived as Mellor’s excellent kick to the corner was patted back by Ah Van for former Giants skipper Brown to cross out wide and for Owens to add the extras.
Yet such was the see-saw nature of the contest it was no great surprise when Huddersfield quickly regained the lead, with Jack Hughes crossing on the sixth tackle after a very strong attacking set.
Brough’s conversion meant it was again a two-point Giants lead – something which Luke Robinson soon helped make eight by ploughing over close to the line, for Brough to add conversion No4 just short of the hour.
A brilliant effort by try-scorer Hughes and Kopczak denied Danny Galea what looked a certain try with 12 minutes remaining.
And even though Widnes had several more tilts at the line, the Huddersfield defence held firm until a loose ball was scooped up by Joe Wardle to make ground and feed Broughton to race 60m and finish off under the posts.
This time Jamie Ellis converted and the lead was 14 with 10 nervy minutes left to play.Those nerves became a little more fraught three minutes later when Brown glided over for a third converted score for his side.
The Vikings tried everything within their power to give themselves a late final lifeline.But in the end the Giants weren’t to be denied a super win.
