Although it was another defeat, the ’red – and-blacks’ did pick up a valuable losing bonus point, but on another day, and in different circumstances, it could have been so much more.

The point earned means that Widnes remain in eighth place in the table, whilst Northwich remain in ninth, but five points clear of near neighbours Winnington Park who were thumped by Sandbach.

The weather for the game was dry, bright, and sunny and ideal for some free-flowing rugby.

The visitors had drafted in recent newcomer Kurt Riley into the team for his debut appearance at prop, whilst Kevin Leadbetter returned at stand-off for the game.

Widnes came under some early pressure in the opening exchanges, and conceded a couple of early penalties, the second of which saw scrum half Harry Naylor pull a potential three pointer narrowly wide of the target.

Seven minutes later, a decent touch finder from Kevin Leadbetter helped relieve the pressure and create the opportunity for quick hands to send the impressive Charlie Feeley racing clear on the far right touchline to score the opening try.

At this point, the visitors were now playing some decent rugby, and it was Northwich who began to make a few self-inflicted errors, so much so, that just ten minutes later, another run from Feeley ended with Liam Lawton running in behind the posts for another score, which, this time was goaled by Josh Salter.

On the half hour mark, the referee despatched a Wids player into the sin-bin, which enabled the home side to open their account with a try from hooker Douglas, whilst Tom Husbands booted over the conversion.

Tom Spencer then made a lovely catch to diffuse a tight situation for the Wids, before racing clear on a 40-metre break.

Ultimately, that proved to be the last real action of the half, and the visitors went in at the break leading by 12pts – 7.

The second period then began much the same way as the first, with the Wids under some enormous pressure, which was soon made worse as successive sin-binnings caused further disruption in the ranks.

So, it was hardly a surprise when prop forward Rory Leijdekkers crashed over wide out for a try, which was then goaled by Husbands to give the home side the lead for the first time.

Kevin Leadbetter then missed with an attempted drop goal, but after that, it all went slightly pear shaped for the visitors, as the referee chose to award Northwich a penalty try and despatch yet another Wids player into the ‘bin.

However, despite all this, the Wids were able to re-group, and some quick thinking from Mike Jones, saw the captain touch down for a try following a quickly taken tap penalty.

And they weren’t finished yet. Bobby Finch engaged in an exciting kick and chase, before Kevin Leadbetter intercepted a pass to race thirty-five metres, before new boy Kurt Riley was unfortunately denied a try right at the death.

Head coach Andy McIntosh said afterwards “After a frantic start, the game settled down into a very competitive and enjoyable contest and we took the lead after some great phases of play with two well worked tries.

After going ahead, unfortunately in that second half with the wind behind us, we lost the ability to kick on and control the game due to the high penalty count and a procession of yellow cards which basically saw us need to manage out the game a man down throughout.

Despite that and some marginal decisions going against us - the spirit and commitment was there, and we felt we deserved more out of that game nearly pinching it back at the end.

We earned a valuable bonus point today, but we must learn those lessons as we go into our game in hand against Eccles at home next weekend.”

Widnes: J Salter, B Finch, L George, L Lawton, T Spencer, K Leadbetter, G Hatton, K Riley, P Makles, M Lawton, M Garrity, D Rourke, C Feeley, W Patient, M Jones (c). Reps: R Mafi, S Bryan, A Jones