Steve Akrigg rued "two or three minutes of sheer madness" after watching his Widnes side let a 3-1 lead slip in second half stoppage time, as Padiham got out of jail to rescue a point at the Ruby Civil Arena on Saturday.

The game finished all-square as Dominic Craig pulled a goal back after pouncing on a blocked Kev Pollard clearance before Spencer Jordan equalised less than two minutes later after Padiham launched a counter-attack after Andy Gillespie had a certain-goal cleared off the line moments earlier.

Widnes had led 2-0 at the break thanks to two early strikes by Jack Banister and Brad Smart. Michael Morrison halved the deficit early in the second half before Pollard restored Widnes' advantage 15 minutes from time.

"From our point-of-view, it was two minutes of sheer madness," Akrigg said.

"We had a chance, through on an open goal to make it 4-2 to kill the game. We didn't convert and before that, we had a corner but we didn't do the right thing which was manage the game.

"I'm tired of saying it but mistakes cost us goals and that's exactly what happened today.

"For 90 minutes, it was a great performance but we completely threw it away in the last two minutes.

"It all comes down to game management. We were a bit naive in terms of being 3-1 up with a couple of minutes left and not seeing the game out, either by keeping possession in the corners or taking a chance when you get one.

"We didn't do that and we got punished.

"As I said, it was a good performance for 90 minutes and we didn't really deserve to only draw but at the end of the day, it was us who threw it away.

"It's really disappointing as the lads have done really well but two minutes of crazy decisions has cost us two points."

Akrigg and joint manager Kev Towey will quickly turn their attention to Monday's Hallmark Security League Premier Division clash with Abbey Hey, as the duo target a positive result to get back on track.

He said: "It'll be hard to pick ourselves up after today but the game has gone now.

"We've only come away with a point so we have to quickly move on to Monday.

"We played them earlier in the season but teams change players all time at this level so we'll have a look at them and see what they've brought in.

"We'll go again and hopefully pick up three points at home."