WINNINGTON Park achieved an important bonus-point win against fellow strugglers Eccles on Saturday.
The 27-15 success puts them seven points clear of bottom side Northwich in the bid to avoid a relegation dogfight in Regional 2 North West.
Another positive was that Park bedded in two new recruits in the line in the shape of Joel Gaidan and Genesis Luli.
On 11 minutes, Park won a penalty in the Eccles 22 and kicked for the corner.
The lineout was won cleanly and a driving maul powered over the line, with Tom King scoring and Cameron Flanagan adding the conversion.
The Park had a couple of setbacks, losing Chris Twigg to injury and a defensive error leading to Eccles touching down.
A few minutes later, Eccles lost possession and when Charlie Dexter was tackled illegally Park played on and Richard Hart picked up and put Ross Morrin over.
The remainder of the half was an arm wrestle.
Before the interval Park felt they did score another try after Richard Hart was tackled short and captain Dan Williams picked up and powered over but the referee did not see the grounding.
The second half started badly for Park, who lost the ball in contact and the visiting full-back picked up the ball and ran through the Park defence to reduce the deficit to 12-10.
An Eccles player received a yellow card for slowing the ball down on the wrong side of the ruck and Cameron Flanagan kicked the penalty.
Park were in the driving seat and when they were awarded a penalty they opted for the scrum and drove Eccles backwards, leading to the ball being passed out to Will Du Randt on the wing to dive over and score in the corner for 20-10.
Park were looking the stronger side but a few small errors were stunting opportunities until Gaidan powered over the line to score a crucial bonus-point fourth try with Flanagan adding the conversion.
Eccles did not give up and with only three minutes left on the clock they scored their third try.
This well-earned win for Park with a great team performance will set them up for the rearranged home game on Saturday against Douglas which was postponed in December.
Winnington: Roan Cornwell, Chris Twigg, Jack Williams, Will Du Randt, Charlie Dexter, Cameron Flanagan, Richard Hart, Dan Williams, Matthew Treacy, Phil Lynch, Gary Dykes, Joe Hickey, Hanre Coetzee, Tom King, Ross Morrin, Anthony Hopley, Genesis Luli, Joel Gaidan
