WIDNES Vikings crashed to their fourth defeat in five games as they threw away a handy lead at Batley and were hit with a deadly sucker punch.

Widnes looked to be heading back on track after a difficult few weeks with a superb comeback win against Gateshead last week but they surrendered their advantage and three tries in the last 10 minutes killed them off.

Ian Preece had the final say with a try on 79 minutes which win the game for the Bulldogs. It completes a massive turnaround as Karl Harrison, in his first game in charge at Mount Pleasant, brought a side of misfits to Stobart Stadium and were humbled. But yesterday the same crop of players put in a gritty performance and it was that never-say-die attitude that pulled them through.

Widnes will be wondering were it all went wrong, especially Iain Morrison who collected a hat-trick of tries in his first real come back game for Widnes since a lengthy lay-off due to an ankle injury.

Morrison’s three tries, which were all converted by Hartley, should have given Widnes the impetus to put the game to bed. And when Paddy Flynn crashed over it should have been the case but Batley hung in there with tries from Jermaine McGillvary, Danny Maun and Paul Mennell.

Anthony Thackeray and Richard Varkulis let Widnes ticking over early in the second stanza but the Bulldogs roared back into it through Kris Lythes and Jack Watson.

Widnes began to get nervous when Ian Preece touched down on 69 minutes and they were certainly worried when Dave Tootil barged over to level it.

With only second remaining Preece grabbed his second of the afternoon to steal the win right from under Widnes’ noses.

The Vikings entertain York in the Northern Rail Cup with tricky league clashes against Featherstone and Doncaster, which are by no means bankers for Widnes.