Second half goals from Nialle Rodney and Lewis Doyle put the Linnets 2-0 up on the hour while a Dylan Glass goal 15 minutes later set up a tense finish.

Former Widnes man Jamie Rainford sealed it with a third late on, but Bell felt that the scoreline flattered Runcorn.

“I don’t think the scoreline reflected the game,” Bell said.

“The two teams nullified each other for long periods of the game but they took their chances well.

“The penalty is just one of them things but I think we responded well after that. The subs came on and changed things for us.

“The third goal I can accept because I’d rather the team try and get something from the game than accept a 2-1 defeat.”

Widnes were aggrieved that Runcorn defender Sam Heathcote wasn’t sent off in the first half at 0-0 for pulling down Luke Sephton five yards into the Linnets half.

Sephton would have been through in on goal but Heathcote was only cautioned and Dunne says that the referee got the decision wrong.

“The first half was flat but when [Luke] Sephton’s gone in behind, the referee’s had a decision to make,” Dunne said.

“He probably should have sent the kid off and their lad has admitted as much. That should have changed the game for us.

“We didn’t start the second half well. We didn’t match them and then they’ve built the momentum.

“Glassy’s come on and give us something to hit and we’ve had something to build on from there onwards.

“We’ve got back in the game at 2-1 but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.

“We spoke at half-time about managing flat spots in the game and being sensible on and off the ball.

“But [the restart] has killed us but you still have another 40 minutes of the game to play and we just didn’t have a reaction until the changes were made.”

Bell refused to question the work rate of the players but admitted that he was disappointed to concede in the manner in which Widnes did.

“We made three pretty quick changes just to freshen it up,” Bell added.

“I’ll never ever question the lads’ work rate. They go through brick walls each and every week for each other.

“But it’s one of those games where they’ve capitalised on our mistakes.

“I don’t think they’ve hard to work for their goals but credit to Runcorn, they took their chances and we made mistakes.”