Accrington Panthers 36 Widnes Tigers 38
IT was a case of the one that got away for Accrington Panthers who produced some wonderful rugby in the first home game of the season but still let victory slip through their grasp.
The game started well for the Panthers, with former England Lionheart centre Thomas Gallagher breaking the Widnes defensive line, then handing off four defenders to score in the corner.
Widnes Tigers struck back, taking advantage of some sloppy defence to make it 12-4 to the visitors.
But with new half back partnership of Ryan Lowe and Simon Wrigley was working well, the Panthers completed sets and made good yards and tries from Gallagher, Ashley O’Rourke and Youcef Zitouni saw them lead 24-18 at the break.
It was O’Rourke who scored an early contender for try of the season, breaking tackle after tackle and jumping over the oppositions full back to score his third try of the day.
But Widnes refused to give up and kept the pressure on and when O’Rourke was sin-binned Widnes clawed their their way back into the game from being down 36-18 to make it 36-34.
And the comeback was complete when Widnes scored with two minutes to go.
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