Nantwich Town suffered another disappointing league defeat just days after the high of beating York City in the FA Trophy.
It could have been different after just two minutes when Mo Ali almost deflected a corner in for the opener for the Dabbers.
Just seven minutes in, though, it was the visitors who struck first.
Scott Butler made a rare error at the back in misjudging a header, and in trying to make up for it dived in rashly on his man in the box and brought him down for a sure-fire penalty.
Jack McGowan was the taker, and what a penalty it was as he tucked it right into the postage stamp from a relatively short run up.
All of the Dabbers’ best moments came from crosses or set pieces.
One from Paddy Kay was excellently cleared, before Widnes went up the other end and had an effort on target that was easily caught by Danny Roberts.
Nathan Okome found himself still up top after a corner and tried to deliver the ball back into the danger area.
It took a severe deflection and former Dabbers keeper Cameron Terry did well to adjust and claw it away as it may have been sneaking in.
Mo Ali was making a nuisance of himself again from a set piece, but didn’t quite get a clean contact on his effort before it wbeing hooked away.
A couple of other half moments came and went as an obstinate Widnes team went into the break ahead.
History repeated itself in shambolic fashion at the start of the second half as Widnes got their second goal.
This time it was both Butler and Okome who made mistakes, leading to James Steele being able to get a shot away that went in off the post.
The Dabbers found themselves two down to a team that had conceded the joint fewest goals of any team in the league.
And Widnes had chances to extend the lead.
Ste Milne, who was dominating the Nantwich midfield single-handedly and running through almost at will, curled wide to elicit an angry response from Roberts at his defence.
He shot wide from a very narrow angle a few minutes after this.
Paddy Kay shot straight at Terry, before McGowan had two efforts in quick succession, the second held by Roberts.
It’s worth pointing out that the Dabbers now haven’t kept a clean sheet in the league since 1874 Northwich away at the end of August.
While the goals aren’t being conceded in vast quantities, they are being conceded in nearly every game.
Joe Piggott had a tough debut, but had a couple of better moments as the game wore on.
One burst down the right channel saw him drive across goal and Terry could only palm it away but not into the path of the close Akiel Raffie.
Raffie was one of the subs along with Byron Harrison that made a positive difference when they came on.
A corner forced by them was seemingly mishit low across goal and bounced off a Widnes defender before a grateful Terry fell on it.
Terry made a pretty comfortable double save, before Butler stopped Milne on another of his powerful direct runs.
Piggott had the last Dabbers effort blocked as a Widnes team who looked hungrier from the first minute took a deserved three points.
The next Nantwich home game is against Avro on December 23 at 3pm.
(Images courtesy of Jonathan White)
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