Dave Dempsey was left ruing a sense of injustice after Widnes conceded a 97th minute winner in a 1-0 defeat against Warrington Rylands.

The Whites held their promotion-chasing rivals until the 97th minute when Declan Walker headed home deep into injury time.

Widnes had already been reduced to 10-men with James McCulloch being shown a red card late in normal time for a second bookable offence.

And Dempsey was cautioned by referee Anthony Ball in the aftermath of the goal, and the boss felt that the late goal was a bitter pill to swallow.

"It's a tough one to take. So so tough," Dempsey said.

"The lads have done exactly what we asked them to do for over 90 minutes. We've made it very difficult for a really good side. We've caused them problems and probably should have been 1-0 up at half time.

"I told them that they'd get their chances and to keep it tight but we've punished late on.

"Kirky's been sent off and then the referee has played two minutes over the five he initially added on and they've gone on to score a winner.

"We've done our jobs for 96 minutes. The players have done more than asked and there's no way we should be coming away from that game with nothing, but we have.

"We've held a very good side to virtually nothing right until the death.

"I've got so much belief in this group of players. They'll achieve something if they stick together, whether it's the season or next. I know that they can do some serious damage to teams.

"We've used the enforced break we've had as sort of a reset button. If that's the first game of the season, you're not coming away from it disappointed or annoyed.

"I'm coming away emotional about things that we can't control."

Stand-in skipper McCulloch was dismissed four minutes from time for a second yellow card moments after Fisnik Hajdari appeared to be fouled in the build-up.

Dempsey felt that his defender's first yellow card in the first half was a fair challenge, but refused to be overly critical of the officials.

"I don't really want to talk about the referee. I'll end up saying something I'll regret," Dempsey added.

"I'm sick of talking about referees. The first one was never a yellow card. He's come away with the ball but that's football - decisions like that sometimes go against you and those decisions seem to be going against us quite often this season."