Widnes Vikings 36 Leigh Centurions 10.

PRE-match talk of a possible late charge for the Super 8s quickly evaporated and a woeful first half at the Halton Stadium dumped Leigh to the foot of Super League.

And too many more performances of this ilk will ensure a more nervous end of season than might have been anticipated.

Leigh trailed 20-0 at the break and despite fighting back to 20-10, a misguided Ryan Hampshire pass led to Vikings finally putting the game out of reach with Corey Thompson’s second try of the night.

The cavalry, however, is on the way with the imminent arrivals from the NRL of Samisoni Langi and Daniel Mortimer.

“We built it up all week as being a cup final,” explained head coach Neil Jukes after Widnes completed a league double over their visitors.

“It was five cup finals for both teams to give ourselves a chance to get out of it.

“We trained as well as we have done all year the day before the game. We felt good in the changing room, the talk was good and the feedback from the warm up was good.

“But just after the first set we looked like a completely different team.

“It felt like everyone thought everybody else was in a good place so I’m alright. But no one was in a good place.

“It was as bad a 40 minutes as I have been involved with, especially in a game of that magnitude.”

Inspired by former England centre, Chris Bridge and Leigh old boy, Rangi Chase, Widnes bagged four first half tries through Thompson, Chris Houston (2) and Bridge.

Leigh were better after the break and Nick Rawsthorne celebrated the first game of his month loan spell with a try. Atelea Vea also crossed and a Josh Drinkwater conversion reduced Leigh’s deficit to two scores.

But Hampshire’s careless pass allowed Thompson to go 70 metres after 62 minutes before Ryan Ince and Matt Whitley added further tries in the last 10 minutes.

*Leigh’s final game of the regular season against Salford has been brought forward from July 23 to Friday, July 21 with an 8pm kick-off.

Centurions agreed to the fixture switch at the Red Devils’ request to allow them longer lead in time to the club’s Challenge Cup semi-final with Wigan on July 30.

*Leigh have terminated their dual registration agreement with Sheffield Eagles.

Owner Derek Beaumont said: "Life is about treating people how you want to be treated and Sheffield are coming into a difficult situation where we do not have the players available to assist them how they would like, which they understand.

"It is therefore important to enable them to form a partnership with a club where they can benefit fully from a dual registration agreement.”

Match stats: Widnes: Craven; Thompson, Bridge, Runciman, Ince; Mellor, Chase; Dudson, Heremaia, Buchanan, Houston, Whitley, Cahill.

Substitutes O’Carroll, White, Gerrard, Olbison.

Tries: Bridge (3), Houston (6, 40), Thompson (32, 62), Ince (73), Whitley (80) Goals: Bridge 3/5, Craven 1/2 Leigh: Brown; Dawson, Crooks, Paterson, Rawsthorne; Hampshire, Drinkwater; Burr, Pelissier, Weston, Hansen, Stewart.

Substitutes: Hood, Tickle, Maria, Hopkins Tries: Rawsthorne (50), Vea (57) Goals: Drinkwater 1/2 Referee: James Child Half-time: 20-0 Attendance: 5604 Match rating: 3/5