“A game of two halves” is a well known cliché in all forms of sport, but it was so true as Widnes somehow managed to turn things around in the second half to secure their place in round 2 of the Halbro Plate.

Widnes played their worst forty minutes of the season during the first half as Bowdon cut them to pieces with two tries inside the first ten minutes. Centre, Tony Ross (pictured) maintained his try scoring sequence with a try just before the break which left them trailing 12 – 5 at half time.

But what a different story it was after the break! With a big wind at their backs, Widnes used the elements to good effect and some sensible kicking into space gave them field position allowing the whole of their pack to dominate proceedings – so much so that Bowdon were never in the Widnes quarter during the second half.

Full back Les Whitfield made several dangerous runs before he combined with Graham Riley to get Widnes back on terms. The latter then gave Widnes the lead for the first time with a well taken penalty.

As Bowdon got more desperate, the home side pack turned the screw even tighter and when Geoff Owens scored again after 65 minutes it was looking good as Widnes extended their lead to eight points.

Winger John Maher, returning from injury, put the icing on the cake on 74 minutes when he scored wide out to secure their place in the hat for the next round.

The Widnes man of the match award was shared amongst the entire pack – Clive Winstanley, Stu Nash, Peter Ruane, Antony Morris, Chris Gill, Dave Holian, Dave Lightfoot, Dave Breeden, Terry Abbott, Andy Rigby and Danny Campbell.