Stockport 32 Winnington Park 0

1:30pm Thursday 24th January 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

PARK remain pointless against Stockport.

But there was to be no repeat of their 70-point mauling in October as Mark Warr's men made the promotion chasers work hard for their win.

In the end Stockport's class told and they took the points with some superb rugby, defying the terrible playing conditions to send their opponents ever closer to the North Two West trapdoor.

Park, playing with the slope, dominated territory during the opening exchanges but could not get the breakthrough, turning down simple three-pointers on two occasions to run the ball. They trailed 8-0 at the interval.

But the men from Burrows Hill switched off at the start of the second half, conceding two tries in quick succession as suddenly their task grew harder. And at 22-0 Stockport's confidence grew.

They added further tries to complete the scoring but Park skipper Mark Patterson saw enough to encourage him ahead of a crucial month ahead.

"There is a long way to go yet," he said.

"As long as the boys take their chances in the coming weeks we have a great chance of moving up the table."

The next three matches include tussles with Leigh and rock bottom Tyldesley, where four points is a must in what could be the turning point of the season.

Rob Garbett, Mark Phoenix and Phil Parrot, plus star man Ben Elliot, should all be back by then.

---

Park: Sullivan, Robbins, Burgess, Carl Patterson, Stubbs, McKibbin, Cross, Richardson, Warr, Barton, Ellis, Mark Patterson, Welch, Evans, Archer. Replacements: Sant, Jones, Hill.