It was a disappointing return for the Wids who had fought back from 12 – 7 down to take the lead midway through the second half, only to then be hit by a whirlwind three try purple patch by the home side in the final quarter which saw them claim the spoils.

Sadly, though, despite their impressive finish which secured Crewe & Nantwich the required bonus point victory, it was not enough to save them from the drop after news filtered through that Winnington Park had won comfortably at Altrincham Kersal to seal their fate.

For Widnes - who finished the campaign in ninth place - they can now look back on a job well done having achieved their ambition of remaining at this level. However, they do now face a summer of reflection and change ahead of the 2025/26 season.

The weather for the game was dry, bright, and sunny, but there was a stiff, chilly breeze blowing directly down the pitch.

Playing against the elements in the first half, the Wids got off to a bad start, with a handling error in defence handing the home side an early score from Charlie Mountford, with stand-off Lynch adding the conversion.

After ten minutes play, there was then the curious sight of the home side having to change their playing shirts because of a serious colour clash between the two teams.

The remainder of the half was then played at a frantic pace, with both sides prepared to throw the ball about, but not respecting possession enough to be able to apply any real, sustained pressure close to the line.

Widnes had opportunities through Liam Lawton, Sam Fitzsimon, Bobby Finch, and prop forward Kurt Riley, who all made decent half-breaks, but their usual cutting edge and composure was missing from the equation.

The visitors then suffered a blow in the run up to the break as they lost two players into the sin-bin. However, they were able to keep their line intact with some decent scrambling defence resulting in no further damage on the scoreboard.

With the elements now in their favour, better things were now expected from the visitors, and that was exactly how it started.

A strong run from Dan Rourke ended with a C & N player being despatched into the sin bin, before Sam Fitzsimon used his height and strength to get over the line for a try, with Josh Salter adding the conversion.

The Wids were back on level terms now, but it would not stay like that for long though as a well-timed run from Joe Gammage, saw the fullback slice through a static Wids defence from thirty-five metres to regain the lead for the home side.

From there, C & N were controlling the possession and field position better than the Wids. That was until the 56th minute when another run from Dan Rourke along with some quick thinking saw Keiron Arndell touch down underneath the posts for a try.

With Josh Salter adding the extras, the Wids were now in the lead for the first time and appeared to be well placed to push on and secure victory.

However, in a frantic last twenty minutes, it all started to go wrong for the visitors.

After frustrations boiled over in midfield, a further two players were invited to spend ten minutes on the sideline, before another Wids yellow card ended with number eight Spencer-Price crashing over for a third C & N try which was goaled by Lynch.

Not content with that, the home side then recorded a fourth try to earn themselves the necessary bonus point they required to at least give themselves a chance of staying up.

With the clock ticking down and the Wids challenge having long since faded, there was still time for a C & N player to be sent to the sin-bin, but that failed to prevent them adding a converted try right at the death and complete the task in hand.

Head coach Andy McIntosh said afterwards “We finished our league campaign with a slightly below par performance against a determined side fighting for their survival in this league.

Having got in front with about 20 mins to play a succession of yellow cards, injuries, missed tackles left us short on replacements after already being forced to play with only 17 due to unforeseen circumstances before kick off.

On a very hard pitch and a hot day, it was a good contest but became a battle of attrition in the end and Crewe just came out on top.

We wrap up our 24/25 campaign away at Sandbach in a re-arranged Papa Johns cup game next weekend - so we will be looking for the lads to prepare themselves for one last push of the season and hopefully recover from some knocks”.

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