Brown’s treble silences Widnes abuse

Kevin Brown shrugged off abuse from Widnes fans with a hat-trick to knock his old club out of the Challenge Cup on Sunday.

The England stand-off was heckled throughout the game by Vikings supporters still angry over his decision to leave them in the close season for their arch-rivals.

While Wolves’ boss Tony Smith was delighted with Brown’s performance during the 34-20 victory, he didn’t think he was the best player on the pitch.

“I’m delighted for Kev – he was under some vocal pressure even before the first whistle blew and responded well,” said Smith.

“I’m pleased for him. He came back from Australia with confidence and took that into the game today. He took them on and made some very good decisions. I think we will see more from Kev this year, but that showed why we brought him here.

“I thought he was good, but I didn’t think he was as good as Matty Russell. I thought Matty was unreal and Ryan Atkins is in top form as well. All credit to Widnes, who had a real dig. We had to face up to that because they just wouldn’t give in.

“There were times when we looked really good and I felt we let them off with the way we finished off a couple of sets, we could have put the foot on their throat. I thought we were really good in some areas and scrappy in others, but I’m happy with our character.”