Winnington Park pay price for period of sloppy defending in narrow defeat at Anselmians

WINNINGTON Park paid a heavy price for a slack 25-minute period in which they conceded four tries at Anselmians on Saturday.

It leaves them third bottom in South Lancs/Cheshire Division One.

The opening quarter perhaps gave Winnington a false sense of security as they scored within two minutes.

A deep kick off from Fraser Lindsay followed by an excellent defensive chase put the home team’s full back under pressure and his clearance found Craig Lamb, who in turn sent a pass inside to Chris Heptinstall.

This allowed Park’s scrum half the chance to look up and attack the left flank.

With some controlled phases, Winnington saw a gap on the left and Dan Billington gave a short pass to Mark Gately.

He went past several defenders to score an excellent try. Lindsay added the extras.

The hosts grew in confidence, levelling and then adding another before Lindsay slotted a penalty.

But that was Park’s only score for the rest of the half as the defence wilted and Anselmians ran in two more tries to lead by 16 points.

Winnington gathered their thoughts and produced arguably their best display of controlled rugby of the season.

Joe Robins, making his first appearance of the season came on and livened proceedings up with a score in the corner after good work from the forwards.

Gately scored his second from another combined effort from the pack and Harry Stubbs added another.

It all came about with organisation from the whole side and a real sense of team togetherness.

The only blemish was another score by Anselmians during a rare foray into Park’s half.

Park were camped in the hosts’ 22 for the final eight minutes, but could not squeeze over.