James Steele struck his 15th goal of the season to lift 10-man Widnes to a huge three points at Stalybridge Celtic on Saturday.

The Whites had to play over 70 minutes one man down after Niall Battersby was sent off midway through the first half for a late challenge on Joe Duckworth.

But Michael Ellison’s team weathered the Stalybridge storm and took their only real high-quality chance when Steele bust a gut to get on the end of a Sean Miller cross.

Courtney Meppen-Walters struck the post late on for the hosts, who later had Jack Tinning sent off, but Widnes held firm to maintain their four-point lead at the top of the NPL West.

Ellison named an unchanged side from the team that had hammered Congleton Town last time out.

They were boosted, however, by the arrival of defender Jack Byrne who was named amongst the substitutes but the fixture came too soon for fellow new recruit Craig Carney, who is working his way back to full match fitness.

Widnes started positively and had started to make inroads down Stalybridge’s right-hand side as Harry McGee often combined well with Jack McGowan up top.

Stalybridge, who set up with three centre-halves and a diamond in midfield, initially struggled to cope with the Widnes’ intense pressing and found themselves affording too much space to their visitors in wide areas.

Matty Rain took advantage of this, galloping forward from left-back to rifle a shot towards goal that was beaten away well by Charlie Monks.
Then came the game’s talking point after just 22 minutes.

Celtic worked the ball well to the left-side where Battersby mis-timed his strong challenge on Duckworth, immediately drawing the whistle of referee Taylor Metcalf.

The referee took almost one minute to make his decision although his thought-process was unlikely to have been helped by the six or seven Stalybridge players that surrounded him.

Metcalf eventually brandished the red card, a decision which incensed manager Ellison who was also dismissed after overstepping the mark with his protestations to the officials.

Widnes were facing a big test of character and almost conceded from the resulting free-kick as Meppen-Walters peeled away from his man to head into the side-netting, albeit from an offside position.

Ben Rydel was sacrificed from midfield with Byrne thrown on for his third Widnes debut to plug the gap at the centre of the defence alongside Louis Isherwood.

Stalybridge sensed an opportunity and committed bodies forward, first going close through Lewis Rawsthorn’s volley that hit the side-netting.

Mark Halstead then had to be alert to make a good save from Duckworth after Celtic had fashioned a two-vs-one through the centre of the park.

Widnes were under the cosh but threatened to take the lead three minutes before the break.

Steele led the charge on the counter-attack, playing into McGee who teed up Jack Walls to deliver a cross that evaded McGowan in the six-yard area – any substantial touch and the Widnes striker would have scored.

But Jon Macken’s team came again with Rawsthorn clipping the bar from a tight angle while Halstead did brilliantly to smother a later chance at Jack Irlam’s feet.

Widnes would have been relieved to get in at half-time level but you always felt that the Whites were always going to be firmly in this contest.

Celtic continued to enjoy their man advantage but unlike in the first half, they struggled after the break to create too many clear-cut chances up against the visitors’ stout defensive line.

Rawsthorn dragged an effort wide from the edge of the area and then forced Halstead into a save on the hour-mark with a free header, which the Widnes goalkeeper pushed over his own crossbar.

Kingsley Williams came off the bench to provide a foothold in midfield for the Whites and he was involved in the move that led to Widnes’ goal.

Williams got the ball rolling wide to Walls who played into Miller’s feet on the halfway line.

Miller did brilliantly to feint coming inside to turn away from Tinning and surge forward into the Stalybridge defensive third.

He played a neat one-two with McGowan whose return ball was cleverly crafted into the channel for Miller to deliver a first-time cross into that corridor of uncertainty where Steele turned home ahead of Monks and Celtic captain Liam Tongue to score.

Widnes had had to be patient. They’d held firm against, at times, heavy Stalybridge pressure and made sure to take their big chance when it came.

The onus was now on Stalybridge to chase this game, and Macken made a double change with Greg Wilkinson and Jordan Burton introduced from the bench.

Their best chance came when Widnes conceded a cheap free-kick 25 yards from their own goal.

Meppen-Walters struck the wall but struck his immediate rebound perfectly, firing against the post, and Jordan Butterworth looked poised to score with the follow-up but skipper Ste Irwin made a crucial block and then won a free-kick of his own to relieve any danger.

Several Stalybridge players and supporters behind the goal were convinced that Irwin had handled the ball making his block, but referee Metcalf wasn’t interested.

Celtic pushed but were caught on the break again and Tinning was forced into fouling Widnes substitute Tom Peterson and he was sent off for a second bookable offence.

Stalybridge were awarded another free-kick six minutes into seven added minutes, but Meppen-Walters could only fire straight at Halstead, and that was that.

This was a result and performance that embodied everything this Widnes side are about, underlining their title credentials with a superb showing that overcame plenty of adversity.

Ellison’s team head to Witton Albion on Tuesday before hosting Atherton Collieries on Saturday.

Stalybridge Celtic: Monks, Butterworth, Brownhill, Newell, Meppen-Walters, Tinning, Leonard, Tongue, Rawsthorn, Duckworth (Wilkinson 76), Irlam (Burton 76)

Subs not used: Nasseri, Anuniru, Tse

Widnes: Halstead, Walls, Rain, Battersby, Isherwood, Rydel (Byrne 24), Irwin, McGee (Williams 57), McGowan (Peterson 76), Miller (McGiveron 84), Steele

Sub not used: Holland-Wilkinson