Widnes came from behind twice to draw 5-5 with neighbours Runcorn Town in their latest pre-season friendly on Tuesday night.

The two sides played out a 10-goal thriller which saw Runcorn lead 3-1 and 5-3 before the visiting Whites twice levelled to rescue a draw.

It was Steve Akrigg and Kev Towey’s side’s fourth outing in an unprecedented pre-season fixture list following the 2019-20 campaign being curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic in March.

Widnes have already won convincingly at both Cheadle Heath Nomads and Pilkington either side of a defeat at Rylands as the new Northern Premier League season draws ever closer.

They did however make a slow start at Runcorn in atrocious conditions at the Viridor Community Stadium.

Storm Francis made it a particularly wet August evening and Town made the better of the early exchanges with former Bayern Munich man Dale Jennings forcing a solid save out of Cameron Terry in the Widnes goal.

Former Widnes man Lewis Buckley, who is amongst Runcorn’s summer recruits, then tried his luck from distance but his shot failed to trouble keeper Terry.

Widnes then threatened themselves, but an Aidan Roxburgh challenge prevented Jamie Rainford from getting a shot away after a good move from the visitors.

Town took the lead on the half-hour mark when Buckley opened the scoring, but Widnes soon pegged their hosts back through Mike Burke who headed home from a corner to equalise two minutes later.

But Runcorn soon restored their advantage when Buckley added his second, rounding Terry to finish into an empty net.

Paul McManus’ side scored again to go in at half-time with a 3-1 advantage when wide-man Jennings made a great run to finish neatly into the bottom corner.

With words from co-bosses Akrigg and Towey still ringing in their ears, Widnes started the second-half strongly and pulled a goal back after 49 minutes with summer signing Jordan Southworth lashing in a shot from the edge of the box.

The Whites were much the better side early in the second half and they equalised shortly after the hour-mark.

Runcorn could only half-clear a corner and Widnes duly punished their neighbours with off-season addition Jack Hatton curling a delicious shot into the top corner with Town custodian Adam Reid well-beaten.

Having worked hard to get on level terms, Widnes will be bitterly disappointed to have conceded a fourth Runcorn goal less than two minutes after parity was restored.

Buckley completed his hat-trick, nodding home from a Kieran Holsgrove corner as the goals continued to flow in earnest.

It was five 14 minutes from time as Liam Ward headed in a Kevin Exell cross as Runcorn restored their two-goal advantage and surely thought that they were well on their way to an impressive triumph.

But the Whites had other ideas, and co-boss Towey – frequently a goalscorer against Town in both Widnes and former club Runcorn Linnets colours – came off the bench to drive home a well-hit strike to halve the deficit and set up a tense finish.

And Widnes would earn themselves a draw when Mikey Conlon – signed from Newcastle Town in July – netted a fifth to close out an entertaining Halton Derby.