Five past three, we struggled to control our laughter as neat interplay between Dave Watson and Danny Wood saw Woody glide through a static Widnes defence to give Hornets the lead. Wood slotted the goal and we joyfully ridiculed the Widnes fans sat near us.
The lead was short lived as Widnes regained the advantage. Scores were levelled through a converted walk in by ex-Hornet Scott Martin following some swift passing on the last tackle.
Then try machine Phil Cantillon weighed in with a spectacular 18 inch flop over that many Hornets supporters felt he didn't ground properly.
Then it came. Hornets scrum on the half way line, Coates delivered the ball hand to hand to Danny Fearon who stepped through a gap, pinned back his ears and ran fully 40 yards straight through the Widnes defence, straight from the back of the scrum, to score a try that brought the home support to its feet and exposed Widnes' appalling lack of pace. Wood missed the conversion.
With Hornets back in the hunt at 12-10 and the clock ticking away, Marlon Miller found half a yard on the right touchline, skinned Forster and left Widnes' leaden defenders for dead to sprint 50, yards and score. Hornets in front 14-12.
Widnes fans stunned into silence realising that all we had to do was break the line and we could simply run away from their defence.
As the Widnes side left the field at half time, Hornets supporters shouted 'Carthorses' at them and who could argue? We imagine that the Widnes dressing room resounded with David Hulme's own... er... unique style of motivation at half time as the visitors started strongly, regaining the lead through a Coussins try.
Hornets refused to wilt, though and continued to take the game to Widnes, Sculthorpe and Watson drawing in defenders and off-loading and Hornets keeping the ball alive quite spectacularly at times.
Widnes showed that they were less than comfortable as Hammond took the two from a dubious penalty and as Crompton crossed througha tiring Hornets defence late on, the sizeable Vikings contingent exhaled in relief.
Martin Hall must be very pleased with this performance. If Widnes really are runaway favourites this term, we're not that far behind them. Again Sculthorpe impressed - he has all the skills of a class stand-off - Watson added some much needed guile, the two Marlons look a useful combination of pace and power and Owen had an exceptional game at fullback, causing all sorts of problems for Widnes every time he carried the ball.
As for Widnes , well what a massive disappointment. Despite some seemingly great signings, they're very, very ordinary. With the exception of Martin Crompton, David Hulme must be less than happy.
Karle Hammond was largely anonymous for the whole game and, if he fails to impose himself against us, he's going to get very embarrassed indeed against the better sides in this competition.
Jason Dimitriou showed none of the spark that he had last season and Phil Cantillon needs a better pack around him if he's going to match last season's devastating form. The probability is that they'll improve as the season progesses - but so will everyone else.
Could be an interesting season for everyone.