The Broncos had edged themselves to within two points of the Vikings who were defending their line with real venom. With just seconds remaining Julien Rinaldi, who since coming off the bench had been hugely influential, flicked a short pass to Antonio Kaufusi and the big Tongan prop thundered over to the delight of his team mates and the long suffering Broncos fans.

It was a massive relief to all concerned, not least to Powell." I was just pleased to get a win," he said. "I don't think it was ever going to be that pretty a contest. Widnes had a good win last week and were going to give it a good go. We knew that and the most important thing was finding a way to win the game which we did."

Given that these two sides are locked at the bottom of the Super League table, it was a tense, tight affair. Widnes got off to a perfect start with a try after just two minutes, the home side conceding successive penalties in their own half and Cameron Phelps making the most of the position and possession to score which Patrick Ah Van converted.

The Broncos levelled things up 10 minutes later when a determined run from Craig Gower took him over the line with Shane Rodney converting. Rodney was on target again later in the half when a smart move down the blindside saw Omari Caro race over for his first Super League try to give his side a 12-6 lead.

But tries either side of half time swung the game back the Vikings way. Frank Winterstein crashed over for the first and Phelps claimed his second both converted by Ah Van to make it 18-12. The Broncos responded when Tony Clubb, looking increasingly effect at prop these days, took a short pass from Rinaldi to force his way over.

Rodney tied up the scores again with the extras but as the game moved into the final quarter a couple of glaring errors deep in their own half by the Broncos enabled Widnes to re-take the lead. First Kaufusi knocked on playing the ball just 20 metres from his own line on the first tackle which led to Ah Van touching down. However, the try was disallowed because of a forward pass in the build up but incredibly David Howell did the same thing as Kaufusi, only this time Winterstein made no mistake with the touchdown.

Ah Van made it 24-18 with the conversion and with the match ebbing away from them, the Broncos looked increasingly desperate. With eight minutes remaining the pressure they had exerted on the Widnes defence began to tell with Dan Sarginson scooting over. Rodney looked to tie up the scores but his conversion attempt hit the upright and bounced out.

The home side kept hammering away but it looked to be in vain because with 29 seconds remaining they were on their last tackle. But Rinaldi and Kaufusi kept their nerve for the match winning touchdown and few people probably noticed Kieran Dixon stepping up to land his first ever conversion for the club at this level.

Powell added: "We haven't had the rub of the green this year. We've not won any tight games so we probably deserved a little bit today."