Winnington Park 0 Altrincham Kersal 26

DEPLETED Winnington suffered back-to-back league defeats for the first time this season when the unbeaten title favourites visited on Saturday.

Park failed to score too.

Altrincham Kersal, one of two teams – Liverpool St Helens are the other – to boast an unblemished record to date, proved difficult to defend against.

The visitors off-loaded regularly to move the point of contact for Winnington tacklers, who resisted stoutly during the opening exchanges.

When the hosts did get their hands on the ball their reshuffled backline, featuring skipper Harry Stubbs in an unfamiliar role, ran straight lines together to build a platform for further forward progress.

Too often though they turned the ball over when an individual made an isolated break.

Altrincham were ruthless when they picked up possession, opening the scoring.

They added a second try in the seconds before the break, moving the ball out wide before a clever pass sent a man over in the corner.

Winnington enjoyed more possession in the second period, but with players filling in for absentees they struggled to be cohesive.

Stubbs was sent to the sin bin followed a disputed team card, and the league leaders made their extra man count.

They ran in quick tries to increase their advantage, while a consolation reply by Park was ruled out after the match official judged them to have pinched the ball illegally at a scrum.

“The boys never gave up and worked tirelessly for each other,” said Stubbs afterwards.

“We stuck together even when things went wrong.”

They visit West Park this Saturday, kick off 2.15pm.

Park Burgess, Robins, Underdown, Roper, Heale, Dykes, Danny Williams, Lepniewski, Jack Williams, Lindsay, Lamb, Stubbs, Reeks, Cannings, Pickering Replacements Skelley, Ridgway, Jones