REPORT | Leek Town 4-1 Widnes

Widnes had a night to forget in Staffordshire on Tuesday night, going down 4-1 to Leek Town at Harrison Park.

Remarkably, all five goals came in the opening 35 minutes as Widnes fell victim to a first half blitz from a ruthless Leek side.

A third minute opener from Robert Stevenson and an Aaron Bott hat-trick had Leek cruising at the break, with Kev Pollard’s eighth minute equaliser the only positive for Widnes with the damage already done.

The Whites travelled to Staffordshire with a depleted squad, with eight first team players unavailable for selection. Joint bosses Steve Akrigg and Kev Towey made one change to the side that beat Colwyn Bay on Saturday, with Tom Freeman deputising at left-back in place of Phil Doran, ruled out through work commitments.

Widnes began with a makeshift back-four consisting of one recognised defender in Mike Burke, and Leek took full advantage by racing into an early lead.

The visitors failed to deal with a direct ball over the top allowing Stevenson to ghost in, pick up the loose ball and slot the opener beyond Richie Mottram.

Widnes responded well and equalised just five minutes later. From a Chris Lomax corner, Burke had a header cleared off the line and Leek failed to heed the warning signs, with Pollard rising highest to guide Lomax’s resulting set-piece into the far corner.

The scoreline was level for barely 90 seconds, as Mottram was unable to deal with a Sam Hall cross allowing Bott to hammer home his first of the evening.

Leek’s diagonal balls forward had Widnes retreating at sixes and sevens, with the hosts adding a third on the 13-minute mark, with Bott holding off Pollard to finish emphatically at Mottram’s near-post.

Mottram had to be alert moments later to make a double save to deny Jordan Johnson, before Stevenson had a penalty appeal waved away after going down under the challenge of Elliott Jones.

Widnes looked to have settled down and regained some composure on the half-hour mark as Towey had an effort on goal well held by Leek keeper Danny Roberts.

However, Leek added a fourth 10 minutes before half-time. In what was a really poor goal to concede from Widnes’ point-of-view, Johnson was allowed acres of space to bring down and aerial ball to quickly release Bott who did the rest, racing away from Burke to complete his hat-trick.

With the game all-but won, Leek dropped down the gears in the second half and remained relatively untroubled by a Widnes side devoid of ideas.

Custodian Mottram produced a typically-solid performance between the sticks for Widnes, pulling off a terrific save to deny Johnson a certain fifth for Leek from close-range after good work by Stevenson.

Johnson again went close moments later, blazing over from close-range before Widnes’ night went from bad to worse with defender Burke limping off with a muscle problem leaving the Whites to play out the rest of the game with no recognised defender on the pitch.

Substitute Tom Croughan produced Widnes’ best chance of the half, driving into the area to tee up Lomax who drove an effort wide as the visitors were well-beaten on an immensely disappointing night.