MATT Farr said his players proved their worth after going closer than any rival this season to inflicting a first defeat on table-toppers Altrincham Kersal.
The visitors to Burrows Hill made the most of a numerical advantage at Burrows Hill, where Winnington prop Shaun Underdown was sent off for a high tackle, to snatch victory after scoring a converted try in the last minute.
But the hosts’ head coach was upbeat afterwards.
He said: “We took the game to them, and raised it even after going a man down.
“It’s a performance that showed we can compete with the best teams at this level.”
Altrincham had taken the lead with converted try inside the first 10 minutes before Cameron Flanagan kicked a penalty to put his side’s first points on the board.
He repeated the trick before a lengthy pause in proceedings while a visiting player received treatment for a neck injury.
The visitors scored again after the restart, and led 12-6 at the interval.
A stalemate followed until Underdown was shown a red card, prompting Farr to reshuffle by sending on Chris Heale to play in the front-row.
He home team rallied though, and Alex Glendinning’s burst after taking a penalty quickly ended with him sending in Chris Sheppard to score.
Flanagan added the extras to put Park in front for the first time and they were unlucky when another penalty kick struck a post.
However Chris Twigg dotted down in the corner to make it 18-12, setting up a tense finale.
Altrincham applied heavy pressure, and dominated territory, before they broke through decisively as the clock ticked down.
A successful conversion settled the outcome in their favour – an eighth win in a row.
Park | Underdown, Evans, Eaves, Dave Cross, Hallworth, Dykes, Treacy, Glendinning, Matt Cross, Flanagan, Brookes, Johnson, Twigg, Sheppard, Jack Williams Replacements Moran, Heale, Ryan Williams Tries Sheppard, Twigg Con Flanagan Pens Flanagan (2)
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