WINNINGTON Park earned an impressive 31-19 win in the ‘derby’ match at Northwich on Saturday.
The Park victory, built on the 25-5 first-half advantage they established, sees them move up to seventh in Regional 2 North West – level on points with Northwich and only a successful conversion apart in terms of points difference.
It was a highly anticipated ‘derby’ in front of a large crowd and Park’s strong defence from the kick-off set the tone.
The first points of the game came on seven minutes.
After mounting pressure by Park from excellent phase play in the Northwich 22, a penalty was slotted by Cameron Flanagan for 3-0 to the visitors.
The first try soon followed.
From the Northwich 22, Park went through six phases through the forwards with strong carries and quick ball, concluding with Du Randt taking the ball at short range to cross, with Flanagan converting.
Then on 14 minutes Park won a five-metre scrum and captain Williams picked up at the base and powered over, with Flanagan again adding the extras for 17-0.
A mistake from the restart, which led to Park being caught offside, allowed Blacks to kick for the corner where they won the lineout and set up a driving maul to score from short range on 22 minutes.
Park regrouped and won a penalty at a scrum on the 22 which Flanagan slotted over.
Winnington won a lineout and then set up a driving maul from which Lapniewski came up with the ball at the tail and powered over to score his side’s third try on 35 minutes to round off a strong first-half performance from Park.
Northwich put Park under pressure at the start of the second half and on 45 minutes a yellow card for Park’s Williams left them down to 14 men.
On one Blacks attack, Park held the ball up over the try line but after conceding a series of penalties Northwich scored their second try off the back of a lineout and driving maul to reduce the arrears to 25-12.
Both sides had a period of possession but unforced errors by Northwich did not help them with continuity.
Park were far more expansive and were finding gaps, but Northwich were defending well.
On 64 minutes indiscipline at the breakdown from Northwich gave Flanagan the opportunity to land a 35-metre penalty goal.
Northwich got their third try on 70 minutes when they won a lineout, took the ball into contact and with penalty advantage they took a couple of phases in and with quick ball they got over the line for 28-19.
But it was as close as Blacks got, with Flanagan completing the scoring with a further penalty.
Neither side are in action this weekend, with their next fixtures being on Saturday, November 8 – Northwich at home to Birkenhead Park, while Winnington Park play host to North Ribblesdale.
