WINNINGTON Park gave league leaders Firwood Waterloo a keen contest for 60 minutes but then fell away badly.
At 26-26 the visitors turned on the jets to score 29 unanswered points through five tries, running out 55-26 victors.
Park, who do not play again until they visit Northwich on January 11, ended up with a scoreline which did not fully reflect the workrate put in.
Credit goes to their forwards for another gritty performance, with some great ball handling and direct running, while current top try scorer this season, captain Dan Williams, added another three to his tally. The first of those tries came in the third minute from a driving maul.
A couple of errors gave FW opportunities and they capitalised with a converted try on 13 minutes to level up the score at 7-7.
Both sides had good periods of possession, but Park were unlucky with some decisions before a little chip kick in the right-hand corner allowed the Waterloo winger to score and give his side the lead.
FW were in again on 22 minutes from their own 22 and Park needed to step up their challenge.
They earned a penalty and after being repelled went to the corner and Williams scored his second try from a carbon-copy driving maul.
Park were out of the blocks now and on 34 minutes they levelled matters at 19-19 with a great forwards try.
Cameron Flanagan put Phil Lynch through a gap with a great line and he offloaded to Gary Dykes and in turn he released the ball for supporting runner Matt Treacy to touch down.
FW edged back in front from a lineout on 46 minutes but Park regrouped and put their opponents under pressure.
Indiscipline put a Waterloo prop in the bin for 10 minutes and Park kicked for the corner, the lineout worked well and Park set up a driving maul from which Williams completed his hat-trick, with Cameron Flanagan converting to level matters.
But FW went ahead on 61 minutes with a breakaway try and although Park had a good period of territory and possession they could not make it count, with the visiting defence working hard.
From then on, it was all one-way traffic.
Winnington: Will Du Randt, Jack O’Neill, Chris Twigg, Jack Williams, Jack Fenner, Cameron Flanagan, Richard Hart, Dan Williams (captain), Phil Lynch, Matt Treacy, Gary Dykes, Joe Hickey, Ross Morrin, Tom King, Hanre Coetzee, Anthony Hopley, Frankie Davenport, Josh Gledhill
