MATT Farr has said that Winnington Park’s side no longer feels depleted if key players are absent on a match-day.

The head coach was forced to make changes to the starting line-up for last weekend’s meeting with Marple, but the visitors still emerged as victors.

A 38-15 win is their 11th in succession in the league this season, and they sit one point clear at the top of the table.

“Those lads that came in as replacements stepped up,” reflected Farr.

“We’re starting to build a first-team squad with real strength in depth, and that gives us competition for places.”

He saved praise too for Matt Fowler, who made his first-team debut as a replacement.

Park turn their attention on Saturday to a home fixture against Port Sunlight, kick-off 2.15pm.

The Ellesmere Port outfit have lost all five of their away games in South Lancashire/Cheshire Division Two to date.

Meanwhile Winnington have prevailed in their past nine matches at Burrows Hill in all competitions.

However Farr will urge his players to start better than they did at Marple, where they trailed after half-an-hour.

He added: “It wasn’t until Marple went in front that we began to play our usual style of rugby.

“Once we did that, then we produced some great stuff in difficult conditions to achieve another bonus-point win.”