It was such an impressive victory, that Lee McDermott described it afterwards as “the best win since I became Coach here”.

And, he wasn’t far wrong with his assessment; the forwards were immense and the backs outstanding, against a side who have some serious ambitions about where they want to be to be at the end of the year.

As far as the hosts were concerned; they will have been disappointed at failing to open their home account once again after missing out against Anselmians, but they were able to collect two bonus points from the game after scoring four tries and losing by less than seven.

Widnes were forced into some changes in personnel going into the game. Amongst the casualties were talisman captain and points machine Kevin Leadbetter, whilst brother Antony was only deemed fit enough to start from the bench. Big Arnie Haydock was back in the team though to make his first appearance at number 8, whilst the re-shuffle also meant that prop forward Justin Winstanley was chosen as captain for the very first time.

The heavy rain which had fallen overnight and during the morning, finally gave way to some brighter conditions as kick off time approached, and, despite the weather, the playing surface was in immaculate condition and ideal for rugby.

Southport were first to get their hands on possession during the opening exchanges, and, helped along by a couple of penalties, they soon had a try on the board from wing man Tom Smallwood to give them an early 5 – 0 advantage.

When the visitors were able to see some ball, they were rather sloppy when in possession with a lack of both patience and composure.

In the 16th minute, however, after pinching a scrum against the head, big Arnie Haydock was on hand to pick up and crash over for a try which was then converted via the upright by Andy Owens which gave the visitors a slender two point lead on the scoreboard.

The try signalled better times for Widnes, and their mood was lifted even further by a long range touch finder from Josh Kenyon before successive penalties set up the opportunity for Andy Owen to convert the second of them and put his side further in front.

A Southport yellow card then offered Andy Owens a long range penalty attempt, but this time the effort was narrowly wide of the target.

On the half hour mark, it was to get even better for the visitors, as an ever alert Josh Kenyon shot through a gap in a static Southport defence to score their second try and extend his team’s lead to 15 – 5.

But things suddenly changed in the closing moments of the half with the potential for catastrophe later in the piece.

After bombing another try scoring opportunity, the influential Jamie Clare was then forced to leave the field with an ankle injury, quickly followed by a Wids player going into the bin. From there, Southport were able to use their extra man to good effect to get Tom Peacock over for a try to make the score 15 – 10 in favour of the visitors at half time.

Widnes had a great start to the second half as another long range touch finder soon set up the field position for Arnie Haydock to use his strength and power to crash over for his second try of the afternoon. An excellent conversion from Andy Owens meant the Wids now led by 22pts – 10.

Some slack play at the restart allowed Southport to develop another foothold, and although Widnes were now back to the full 15, they were powerless to prevent Josh Critchley from scoring a try. Fortunately, the normal trusty boot of Charlie Attis was again absent and the deficit remained at 7 points.

Southport then began to crank up the pressure in an attempt to rescue something from the game, and they did bomb a great scoring opportunity as the ball squirted free when a try looked all but certain. However, with the chance missed, it took a timely thirty metre break from hooker Liam Clarke to relieve the pressure and get Widnes clear of the danger zone.

The action though was now coming thick and fast, and there was a superb try saving tackle from Paul McLindon as Southport raced clear down the main stand side. The referee then halted another Southport break after he spotted a forward pass.

The action then switched to the other end of the field, and the result of the game looked to be all but over as Andy Owens held his nerve to convert another penalty which gave his side some breathing space with a ten point advantage.

Despite that, the home side still weren’t done, and when they crossed for a fourth try from Joe Mawdsley the result did look like it was back in the mixing pot once again. Would there yet be one more final twist to this game?

Fortunately, Widnes were able to see out the closing moments without any further mishap to go on and claim another valuable four point haul to go with just a tiny little bit of revenge for the two defeats they suffered at the hands of Southport last term.