They were beaten by a South Cheshire side that has been in a rich vein of form of late having secured four wins from their previous six matches, as well as running previously unbeaten league leaders Firwood Waterloo close the weekend before.

They also had the advantage of being battle-hardened after a decade of rugby at levels 5 and 6, in comparison to that of the Wids who are still serving their apprenticeship after being promoted last term.

Sandbach's victory leaves them in third place in the table – and one of those teams likely to be vying for promotion - with the Wids now in eighth spot in part thanks to wins secured elsewhere by Vale of Lune and Altrincham Kersal.

The visitors went into the game still missing more than a handful of players, and gave debuts to former Colts Rueben Mafi and Lewis George, both of whom went on to perform well in their first outing in senior colours.

The weather for the game was dry and sunny, whilst the pitch was in excellent condition.

Widnes began the game brightly, with Liam Lawton putting in a useful chip ahead which caused some alarm amongst the home defence, whilst there was also a half decent break from Lewis George.

The Wids inability to clear their own lines from a couple of penalties wasn’t helping, and it wasn’t long before number eight Jack Seddon crashed over for a try which was converted by Matt Randle.

Unable to get their hands on any real, meaningful possession led to further pressure on the Wids line, and after 15 minutes, Sandbach added another try as their big pack got to work with a powerful rolling maul.

Jack Krause then pulled off a great tackle as Sandbach threatened yet more damage, but they were powerless to prevent the home side from adding a third try and conversion which made the score 19 – nil.

Some temporary respite followed as Dan Rourke made a strong run which ended with Krause going on a winding 30 metre dash before being tackled into touch.

A Widnes yellow card after 36 minutes saw Sandbach immediately take full advantage with another score which gave them a 24 – nil lead at half time.

Widnes began the second half looking much improved in both attack and defence, but when they received another yellow card, they were punished further as George Cole sliced his way through centre field for another converted score.

After that, the following 25 minutes or so remained scoreless and saw the visitors put in a determined effort. Kevin Leadbetter put in a pin-point diagonal kick to the corner which could have produced more, as did a 50:20 kick downfield from Charlie Feeley.

A yellow card to a Sandbach player was then followed by a bout of fisticuffs, with two more yellow cards – one from each side – being shown before Sandbach rounded things off with two late tries and a conversion which rounded off the scoring.

Head coach Andy McIntosh said “It was a stern test for us today against a solid Sandbach team, who proved to be the strongest challenge we have faced to date in this new league.

We started brightly but gave away far too many penalties in that first half which they punished us for on the scoreboard. Our kicking game lacked direction at times and those errors just gave them the green light to counter attack us, and we found ourselves 24 - 0 down at the turn after some very well executed team tries.

The second half was improved and we did tighten up in contact, but two late tries further rubbed a bit of salt in the wounds.

With two more on debut today, the young lads will remember and learn from this; it is invaluable experience in their development and the team at this level. It wasn’t our day and we found ourselves on the wrong end of a big score, feeling at times we didn’t quite get some calls that maybe we should.

A tough day at the office, but we need to quickly move on from this, recover, learn the lessons and look forward to our next game in two weeks’ time”.

Widnes: J Krause, L George, C Feeley, L Lawton, T Spencer, M Walker, G Hatton, D Rourke, B Mercer, M Blakey, M Garrity, R Hamlett, R Mafi, E Price, M Jones (c). Reps: A Haydock, J Gilhooley, K Leadbetter.