FOR a spell in the mid 70s until the early 90s Saints v Widnes was one of the most eagerly anticipated local derbies on the calendar.

They probably coincided with Widnes just beginning to be the dominant force they would become, when they earned the monicker of Cup Kings.

There were some crackers too, starting with Saints’ Dads Army win at Wembley in 1976 going through to the surprise Challenge Cup semi triumph in 1991.

Widnes’ demise and their financial woes in the years just ahead of Super League effectively took the former World Club Champions away from being up there with the game’s elite.

During their spell away from the top flight they remained a strong rugby league town, continued to grow young players and it is pleasing for those fans who kept the faith following them at Batley, Rochdale, Oldham and Dewsbury that they are now a genuine asset to the top flight again.

It is good to see the Widnes revival, steadily improving year on year, with each year a better calibre of player coming in.

It is also pleasing to see some of the youngsters pushing through for their hometown team.

Given the way they have played this year - doing the double over Leeds, beating Hull, winning at Castleford and going so, so close to knocking Warrington out of the Challenge Cup — Widnes are now a team to contend with.

That is good for Saints.

For too long local rivalry was just too dependent on the traditional clashes with Wigan, with Warrington only beginning to offer a serious challenge in the mid noughties.

There is clearly a special form of crackle about those games against the towns that border us.

And that feeling should be coming back now too with Widnes.

There have been some cracking big match encounters between the sides over the past 40 years - and although the old guard of Kel Coslett, John Mantle, Tony Karalius, Billy Benyon et al toppled the highly fancied Chemics in the baking heat of Wembley 1976, the black and whites soon had their day.

Starting with the 1978 BBC Floodlit Final at Knowsley Road, Widnes tended to get the upper hand in all the knockout games in subsequent years.

The peak for the Chemics over Saints probably came in 1988, when a Martin Offiah hat-trick at Naughton Park effectively handed them the title that Easter Monday.

Offiah was chaired off by the Widnes fans that day - that four pointer over Saints effectively being the difference between first and second-placed Saints.

And then a few weeks later Widnes’ free-scoring backs ran riot in the 38-14 Premiership Final win at Old Trafford.

There were some absolutely cracking Easter Monday and New Year's Day games in between, with the fixture having a traditional derby feel to it.

For all Widnes' success in the late 70s and early 80s, boy did Saints get their own back, with Les Quirk’s late Challenge Cup semi final try at Central Park the following year scuppering their dream final with Wigan.

And a further Saints triumph at the same stage in 1991 doing significant damage.

You could say that Saints, by stopping Widnes getting to Wembley in those two years really put a dent in them. 

Dougie Laughton, if you remember, had scoured the world for talent in that team - Davies, Offiah, Tait, Devereux, Moriarty, Koloto, Sorenson complemented the home-grown Hulme brothers, Myler, Wright and Currier.

Although they won titles and even beat Canberra in the World Club Challenge, they needed that team to get to Wembley.

In fact they were the only team that would have given Wigan a run for their money beneath the twin towers.

By the time the Chemics got there, in 1993, they had already begun to lose players.

When Widnes began to unravel, Saints cleaned up - taking Bobbie Goulding and Karle Hammond, and both became significant presences at Knowsley Road in the double winning side.

So Widnes’ cloud had a silver lining for Saints.

And here we are 20 years on and the Vikings are now back and commanding respect from the so-called big teams again.