It was only their second home loss of the campaign, but it was by far their worst display of the season.

Southport, on the other hand, will be absolutely thrilled with their victory. Not only did they go on to complete the double over their nearest and dearest, but the result was a clear indication of how far their team have progressed in this division since achieving promotion only last term.

For Widnes, it is back to the drawing board, or rather the training paddock, in preparation for next week’s tough encounter away at Glossop.

As the game got underway – the first for three weeks after the half-term break – optimism was high amongst the Widnes supporters at least that their home form would be good enough to secure the league points on offer. They were also conscious that their side would be itching for revenge following the disappointing loss at Waterloo Road back in September.

Although the weather for the game was somewhat chilly, grey and overcast mixed in with some light rainfall throughout, the conditions weren’t half bad for a game of rugby in the depths of winter.

Widnes had long term injury casualty Aaron Duggan back in the fold, whilst Gareth Whitfield was having his first outing at stand-off as the game got underway.

The opening exchanges, especially on the scoreboard, were all rather frantic.

The home side were able to make some early in-roads into the Southport half, but it was the visitors who got their noses in front first with a Charlie Attis penalty after just six minutes.

Three minutes later, Southport were penalised for a high tackle and Kevin Leadbetter stepped up to square things up at 3 – 3.

Not to be outdone, back came ‘Port, and when the home side infringed, Attis was again on hand to make it 3 – 6.

Gareth Whitfield then made a surging run up the centre of the field for Widnes, from where the ball was swung out wide to get ‘try machine’ Antony Leadbetter in at the corner for a five pointer to give his side the lead.

Minutes later, though, Widnes were made to pay for some slack work in defence which allowed livewire scrum half Jack Mann to race clear and score a try which was again converted by Attis.

Kevin Leadbetter then converted another penalty for Widnes which reduced the deficit, before they coughed up more cheap possession in their own danger zone which enabled the big, well drilled Southport pack, to get to work and rumble their way over the line for a try through Colin Fearns. The conversion attempt though was wide of the target.

With a score of 11 – 18 in favour of the visitors, it all meant that the scoreboard had been rattling along at the rate of over a point a minute.

Widnes then suffered an injury blow as hooker Charles Lang had to leave the field with a knock and he was replaced by Jacob Coole-Healey in the front-row.

The remainder of the half continued to see the home side struggle to develop any sort of go forward momentum with Southport maintaining their advantage. Indeed, the visitors probably should have scored more points, but they bombed some opportunities as well as missing with a late penalty attempt as the half finally drew to a close.

Widnes got the second half underway with the coach’s words ringing in their ears and hoping for a rapid change in fortunes.

Southport, though, continued to have other ideas, and, with the home side continuing to mis-fire on all cylinders, it wasn’t long before the trusty boot of Attis edged his side a little further ahead with yet another three pointer.

After 51 minutes, Widnes suffered a hammer blow to their hopes and aspirations, as Southport broke free from long range to score a try wide out through Tom Hill. Charlie Attis converted in style to all but make things safe with almost half an hour still to go.

Kevin Leadbetter attempted to shake off the Widnes lethargy with a break down centre field, but even then the Southport defence was good enough to bundle brother Antony into touch as he tried to squeeze over in the corner.

The last quarter of the game failed to contain any sort of real highlights, and whilst Widnes continued to stutter along to the final whistle, Southport were just happy to have got the job done and secure the points on offer.

The only bright spot on a disappointing afternoon for the home side, was the performance of prop forward Matt Blakey, who was selected as the man of the match.

Head coach Lee McDermott said afterwards “We conceded fourteen points from our own mistakes, so can have no complaints about the result. We were beaten by the better team on the day.”