Super League: Huddersfield Giants 24-12 Widnes Vikings

Jermaine McGillvary scored one of Huddersfield's five tries against Widnes

Huddersfield won for the first time in Super League this season, scoring five tries in their win over Widnes.

The scores were tied at half-time, with tries for Joe Mellor of Widnes and Giants full-back Scott Grix for Giants in the opening 40 minutes.

However, the hosts were dominant after half-time as Jermaine McGillvary, Joe Wardle on two occasions and Eorl Crabtree all crossed.

Manase Manuokafoa's late score was in vain for Widnes.

Huddersfield had failed to win in any of their last five Super League games including last season's play-off series, and were left pointless by Hull FC in their opening match of the season.

There was no danger of a similar fate in this encounter, particularly after half-time when the ingenuity of Huddersfield captain Danny Brough was evident against last season's Dream Team star Kevin Brown, who had a quiet night on his return to the club he left at the end of 2012.

McGillvary's try owed much to his power on the right shortly after the interval, while the Giants' willingness to break from deep brought Wardle his two scores.

Crabtree settled the contest from close in with a trademark burrow over the line.

It looked as though Widnes would pick up where they left off in their demolition of Wakefield in their previous outing when Mellor's footwork took him over the whitewash.

Grix, against his former club, settled the home fans in the final quarter of the first half and they never looked back in a much-improved second period.

Huddersfield head coach Paul Anderson:

"We talked beforehand about our performances, or rather the lack of them.

"I still don't think the performance was there, but we ground a win out in difficult conditions against a good footballing side.

"I thought we were nervous and edgy. But at half-time we told the players to put the muscle in and keep knocking the sets out."

Widnes head coach Denis Betts:

"I felt we just lacked a bit of energy at key moments in the first and second halves.

"That's disappointing because nobody got a grip on the game and I felt it was there for the taking.

"But when you think that twice in the last three seasons we've been well beaten here that shows we're moving in the right direction."

Huddersfield: Grix; McGillvary, Cudjoe, Wardle, Murphy; Brough, Ellis; Crabtree, Lunt, Huby, Ferres, Hughes, Ta'ai.

Replacements: Lawrence, Kopczak, Wood, Mullally.

Widnes: Hanbury; Flynn, Dean, Phelps, Ah Van; Brown, Mellor; O'Carroll, White, Dudson, Clarkson, Tickle, Cahill.

Replacements: Manuokafoa, Kavanagh, Heremaia, Galea.

Referee: Ben Thaler

Attendance: 5,452