Wigan were playing their first Wembley cup final since
1984 against a Widnes side that was contesting their fourth final in the
previous six years. They'd claimed three wins and a draw in those previous
Wembley trips, losing a replay at Elland Road in 1982, so had bags of
experienced compared to Wigan and it showed. Wigan had taken the lead with a
Colin Whitfield penalty but Widnes scored two tries before half time. John
Basnett offloaded to get Keiron O'Loughlin over before Les Gorley's offload
sent Joe Lydon racing the full length of the field for a 12-2 half time
lead.
Lydon then repeated his dose second half. He gobbled
up a lose ball by Gary Stephens and returned it for an 18-2 lead. Wigan did
find a try six minutes from time by Kerry Hemsley but it was too little, too
late. Steve O'Neill's drop goal completed the 19-6 Widnes success. Wigan had
looked over-awed with one newspaper reporter saying they had been
"inadequate, fragmented, error-ridden and uncommitted". Ouch!
Half Time:l
Widnes 12 Wigan 2
Attendance:l
80,116
Referee:l
Billy Thompson (Huddersfield)
Lance Todd:l
Joe Lydon (Widnes)
Television:l
Live Coverage on BBC 1 during "Grandstand" - Commentary: Ray French & Allan
Agar
BBC 1 - Saturday 5th May 1984 6:20am Open University (till
8:25am) 8:45am Saturday Picture Show (presented by Mark Curry -
Guests: David Copperfield, Peter Powell, Kajagoogoo) 10:55am Film:
"Barnaby and Me" (from 1977 starring Sid Caesar, Juliet Mills) 12:27pm
Weather 12:30pm Grandstand presented by David Coleman including....
12:35 Football Focus with Bob Wilson 1:00, 4:25 Embassy World Snooker
Championships: Semi Finals 1:25, 1:55, 2:25 Horse Racing from Haydock Park
1:40 Synchronised Swimming: Diners Club International Sporing Seven from Crystal
Palace 2:10 Judo: European Championships from Liege, Belgium 2:40 Rugby
League: Challenge Cup Final - Widnes v Wigan 4:50 Final Score 5:05pm
The Dukes of Hazzard 5:55pm News with Jam Leeming, Weather, North West
News, Sport 6:10pm Film: "Airport 77'" (from 1977 starring Jack
Lemmon, James Stewart, Brenda Vaccaro, Christopher Lee) 8:00pm 1984
Eurovision Song Contest - presented by Terry Wogan Live from Theatre Municipal,
Luxembourg 10:30pm News and Sport with Jan Leeming 10:45pm
Film: "The Bounty Hunters" (from 1970 starring Yul Brynner, Dean Reed)
12:30am Weather, National Anthem, Closedown
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