Winnington win battle of Parks (From Warrington Guardian)

Winnington win battle of Parks

WINNINGTON Park 1sts claimed a narrow 3-6 victory against a Broughton Park side currently rooted to the foot of the table and facing the ever more likely spectre of relegation.

Winnington were on a high, having comprehensively disposed of Oldham in their last league outing two weeks ago and went looking for points from the off.

Second row forward Rich Jennings led the charge and with Ben Barton probing at every opportunity the home side looked to be heading for a comprehensive defeat.

On 23 minutes Winnington's efforts were rewarded when Ben Barton knocked over a penalty with his second attempt of the day.

This seemed to wake Broughton from their early lethargy and they went on the offensive for a full 20 minutes.

Time and again they battered the Winnington line but to their immense credit the Winnington defence held solid.

Eventually Broughton's stand-off Peter Oakes realised they weren't going to register the try they deserved and he opted to pop over a neat drop goal to level the scores at half time.

The game ebbed and flowed in the second period and both sides had scoring opportunities.

On 50 minutes Winnington brought on player coach Mark Warr for Marl Patterson and shuffled their backs to allow Warr to slot into his scrum half berth.

Winnington had good territorial advantage at this point; Simon Newall a late replacement at number eight had a great spell and worked tirelessly in the back row.

A break from Sam Barton into the Broughton Park 22 gifted brother Ben an easy penalty and Winnington led 6-3 with 15 minutes to go.

Broughton didn't give up though and again had a period of pressure on the Winnington line, but they couldn't make the pressure pay and had to settle for defeat.

On Saturday Winnington Park entertain Cumbrian side Wigton with kick off at 2.30pm.

l PARK 2nds rebounded from their narrow defeat at the hands of Crewe & Nantwich last week to secure victory over Broughton Park 2nd.

Dave Hill fired over three penalties and two conversions, while Trevor Jones scored twice to give Park a 23-10 win.

l THE Vagabonds enjoyed a rare outing and disposed of Macclesfield 3rds 27-12.

Bytheway scored three tries, while Freestone and Holbrooks managed a try each.

Holbrooks also added a conversion.