Lymm 27

Winnington Park 28

RFU North Two West

Saturday, January 13

ON a sunny afternoon at Beechwood, this local derby proved to have all the drama of an action packed thriller as Winnington produced a remarkable comeback.

Both sides had periods of dominance and although Park furthered their upsurge in form, the result was in doubt right until the final whistle.

From the kick off Lymm went on to the attack and from the first line-out, prop Ferguson broke clear to touch down under the posts. Full back Richard Hopkinson converted to put the home side 7-0 up after only two minutes.

From the restart, Park managed to control possession and the Lymm backs were caught offside. Gary Bell kicked the penalty to get Park onto the scoreboard.

Winnington continued to take the game to Lymm, but Bell was just wide with a further penalty attempt before Lymm came back strongly and monopolised possession.

Their forwards provided good rucked ball for their backs and the inside centre made a good break to send winger Holloway over for a try which Hopkinson converted.

Winnington were struggling to put any pattern to their game, and from an uncharacteristic loose pass in midfield Lymm gained position and drove towards the line. From the ensuing ruck, number eight Sutton drove over for an unconverted try to put Lymm 19-3 ahead.

Gary Bell pulled back two penalties to make it 19-9 at the break but Hopkinson was successful with a penalty attempt just after the break to stretch Lymm's lead.

Winnington came back powerfully and following a couple of near misses, a double miss move in the centre allowed Bell to run onto the ball at pace and score under the posts. The full back converted his own try.

Bell, with all of Park's 16 points, was now inspired and from the restart he gathered the ball, chipped over the defence and picked up to send Carl Patterson in for the try. Bell's conversion took Winnington into the lead for the first time, 23-22.

Park continued to press hard as the Lymm pack tired. They were unfortunate not to get a penalty when Ben Barton was tackled late and only desperate defence prevented further scores.

With time running out and Dave Corwood in the sin bin Lymm took the initiative, but Park continued to defend resolutely as the seven-man scrum held firm.

But all appeared lost when, as injury time approached, Lymm gained possession from a set scrum, the ball went blind and Fothergill went over in the corner to make the score 27-23.

Park kicked off well into stoppage time, and were able to regain possession. They recycled the ball from ruck and maul and drove to the 22 where Lymm were caught offside.

Scrum half Mark Warr took a tap penalty and spun the ball wide for prop James Kora to dive over in the corner for a dramatic winning score.

After the missed conversion the referee blew for full-time to the joy of the Winnington Park players and supporters.

With their first away win in the league under their belts, Park can look forward with confidence to Saturday's home encounter with league leaders West Park St Helens.

Winnington Park: Bell; Patterson, S Barton, B Barton, Evans; McCaffery, Warr; Lakey, Cross, Corwood, Lundt, Jennings, Dennett, Smith, Davies.

WINNINGTON Park 2nds beat Lymm 2nds at home 3 -20 on Saturday.

Tries came from Shaw, P Jones, Blenkinsop, Patterson and T.Jones (2). Hill kicked four conversions