Rob Stevenson’s goal after 32 minutes was enough to condemn the Whites to defeat but Michael Ellison’s team certainly had chances with Kris Holt hitting the bar in the first half.

The boss felt that Widnes were good value for at least a draw, and few could argue, with the Whites restricting last season’s beaten play-off semi-finalists to very few clear sights of goal.

Ellison made two changes to the team that triumphed in the FA Cup in midweek with Holt and Will Jones recalled to start in place of Sam Bhatti and Eddie Servuts.

There was little between the two sides in the early exchanges and little of noteworthy incident other than Julius Ndene receiving a very early yellow card for a foul on James Steele who had pinched possession back in Leek’s half.

Leek wanted a penalty after nine minutes when Tom Carr went down under a Jack Byrne challenge but the referee instead awarded a free-kick to Widnes with Carr adjudged to have initiated any contact.

Carr again threatened moments later, finding a pocket of space in the area to fire a shot on goal that was beaten away by a strong Cameron Terry glove.

A sense of expectation was in the air at Harrison Park with Leek anticipated to be in the mix for a tilt at promotion once again this campaign.

But Widnes, relegation-threatened last season, were proving a tough nut to crack and almost took the lead after 20 minutes.

The excellent Steele burrowed his way beyond Louis Keenan into a promising position before teeing-up Jay Roberts to whip a sumptuous cross deep towards the back-post.

It held up nicely for Holt, who arrived late to climb above the handsy Liam Buckley and direct a header towards goal that beat Joe O’Shaughnessy but not the frame of the goal, rattling the crossbar as Widnes went close.

The contest was evenly matched and therefore Widnes will have been disappointed with the manner in which Leek’s goal came.

Tom Scully’s long ball forward was little more than a hopeful one but a moment’s hesitation from the retreating Will Bell allowed Stevenson to pick his pocket and fire the opener inside of the near-post, threading his shot beneath Terry to score.

Widnes had to withstand a little bit of pressure immediately following the goal and responded well.

They created another decent opening on the stroke of half time when Matty Rain got free to deliver a cross into the area but Steele couldn’t quite connect sweetly with his header and O’Shaughnessy easily collected.

The Whites started the second half really well.

Holt forced a superb stop out of O’Shaughnessy with a dipping effort and Jack Byrne turned over from the resulting corner when he really should have at least hit the target.

Widnes dominated possession and territory for large periods of the second half but didn’t work keeper O’Shaughnessy as much.

Equally, the Whites had to be aware of Leek’s counter-attacking threat and particularly Dan Trickett-Smith’s ability to quickly turn defence into attack.

Terry was twice forced into good stops to deny Stevenson and substitute Tom Reilly while Aaron Opoku really should have put the game to bed late on, but he scuffed his effort straight at the Widnes goalkeeper.

The closest Widnes would ultimately come was substitute Connor McCarthy slicing an effort off target.

And with five minutes added on at the end of the second half, Widnes continued their pursuit but were unable to breach the Leek backline headed by the imperious Oliver Harrison.