SAINTS were unable to give new boss Keiron Cunningham a winning start with two late Declan Hulme tries handing Widnes Vikings the Karalius Cup spoils at Langtree Park.

Although nobody will be reading too much into the first cobweb-blasting friendly of the season, particularly as both teams used the match as an opportunity to give their whole squads a run out, there were nevertheless some pleasing signs.

That the more positive of those came in the second half when the 13 left out on the park eventually comprised Paul Wellens and 12 youngsters, shows that there will be plenty of others seeking to follow in the footsteps of Luke Thompson and Greg Richards in knocking down the door to the first team.

Of those young guns a trimmer looking Andre Savelio, the busy Joe Greenwood and strong running debutant centre Jack Ashworth really caught the eye.

Savelio showed last term, on the rare occasions he had a shot, that he could shift the tacklers when carrying the ball.

And so he did again, although he looks like a player who has enjoyed a productive off-season and that will assist in him making a bigger team contribution in defence.

Greenwood, who was largely left kicking his heels towards the end of 2014, showed he meant business in trying to force his way into the coach’s reckoning.

Overall it was something of a patchy performance with Saints showing some real ring-rust in the opening quarter, with some sloppy play and poor ball control essentially inviting the Vikings to camp out in their half.

Although it is only a friendly and so the alarm bells won’t be ringing too loudly, it is something Cunningham will no doubt monitor given the the way poor starts was often the cause of their downfall in games in the middle period of last term.

Vikings took advantage, with wing Paddy Flynn cashing in on a Matty Dawson knock on to squeeze in at the corner. There is certainly something about playing at Langtree Park that the former Haresfinch and Thatto Heath wingman Flynn likes.

New recruit Travis Burns, who was heavily involved in his first 40 minutes in the red vee, showed some shrewd touches moving the ball to the left but twice clear scoring chances were not exploited.

The thickset number six also made some solid contact with his shoulders in defence and looks like a man who can add a bit of brain and an hard edge to Saints’ play.

It looked as though Burns had opened his Saints account when he crossed on the left, only to be held up, but from there a neat Kyle Amor and James Roby combination allowed Greenwood to drive over.

Saints began to step it up and were unlucky when Tommy Makinson was adjudged to have bounced Jon Wilkin’s kick wide.

A wonderfully crafted scrum move, sparked by Jonny Lomax’s fine feed and then subsequent link up, deserved a four-pointer but alas the cover forced Dawson into touch.

Vikings retaliated with Patrick Ah Van having the wherewithal to squeeze in at the corner to give the visitors an 8-6 lead at the break.

Saints rang the changes in the second half, with the rest of the 26 man squad getting a game - including a handful of debutants.

And it looked like the sin-binning of Macgraff Leuluai was going to be critical with Saints scoring twice in that spell.

Leuluai was hard done to, being singled out after the dust up that followed Wilkin’s retaliation after Manase Manuokafoa’s clumsy charge down on the kicker.

Saints used their fortuitous one-man advantage to pull ahead with Savelio’s neat offload carried on to the left where Josh Jones sent Adam Swift in at the corner.

James Roby slipped his markers to add another to give them a 16-8 lead on the hour mark.

But with eight minutes to play a quick-fire brace from Hulme ensured that the visitors took the spoils.

Saints: Lomax; Makinson, Percival, Turner, Dawson; Burns, Wilkin; Masoe, Roby, Amor, Greenwood, Vea, Thompson. Subs: Jones, Swift, Walmsley, Flanagan, Richards, Wellens, Hand, Savelio, Charnock, Hewitt, Ashworth, Davies, Fleming.

Widnes: Hanbury; Marsh, Dean, Ah Van; Brown, Mellor; Gerrard, White, Manuokafoa, Clarkson, Tickle, Cahill. Subs: Phelps, Kavanagh, Hulme, Craven, Carberry, Leuluai, Gore, Whitely, Ince, Heremaia.