And, they did it in style, with a real team effort and hitting their hosts with a three try purple patch either side of half time whilst the home side were a man down.

The Wids will now host local rivals Winnington Park in the New Year where a victory will give them a great chance of topping the group and progressing to the regional stages of the competition.

Conditions for the game were almost perfect; the pitch was immaculate, and there was no wind to speak of other than the freezing cold conditions which had the spectators wrapped up warm against the elements and reaching for their hip flasks.

And for the Wids, things began well enough. They were quickly into their stride after a Bolton mistake from the kick off, with an early break from Liam Lawton before Andy Owens put his in front with a penalty after just three minutes.

Back came Bolton, though, and when the Wids had a man sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle, Ryan McClusky was on hand to level things up.

Helped along by some more Wids self-inflicted ill-discipline, the home side tried to ram home their advantage, but they were met by some strong, tigerish defence – which was prevalent throughout the contest - which helped keep their line intact.

After 16 minutes, the red-and-blacks were finally able to break free of their defensive duties through the mercurial and evergreen Liam Wilde who made a break, and when Bolton were pinged for a penalty, Andy Owens was again on hand to convert the kick.

Not to be outdone, Bolton soon replied, and another successful kick from Ryan McClusky made it all square again at 6 – 6.

A key moment in the game came in the approach to half time when livewire Bolton scrum half Will Bate was also sent to the sin-bin.

Almost immediately, the Wids were able to take full advantage as Tom O’Neill scored a try straight from a lineout which was converted by Andy Owens.

Just a minute later, Captain Kevin Leadbetter collected the ball some 45 metre out, before selling a couple of outrageous dummies to race clear and dive over the line for another converted try.

So, after what had otherwise been an extremely tight first half, Widnes had now suddenly opened up a 14-point advantage.

Either way, it meant that Bolton now had a real mountain to climb in that second period.

But, it didn’t begin well as they quickly suffered a further hammer blow as Andy Owens raced clear of the defence to score the visitors third try in a seven minute purple patch. Not only that, the fullback also booted over the tricky conversion to make the score 6pts – 27.

In fairness, the Wids could have scored more points, but they bombed three or four other try scoring opportunities as well as missing with an attempted drop goal, any of which would have made the game safe.

Instead, it was Bolton who rallied, and they were finally rewarded as scrum half Bate offloaded a superb overhead back pass to get McClusky diving in at the corner for a try.

But, that was as good as it got for the home side, and Widnes were able to celebrate an outstanding away win and extend their long unbeaten run for another week at least.

A Wids spokesman said afterwards “This was a really important victory for us today. Not only does it give us a great chance of progressing further in this competition, but it shows at what level our performances are at against a team who compete in the RFU Leagues”.