WINNINGTON Park have had to forfeit their place in the NPI Cup to Northwich, despite beating their local rivals in the first round.

Winnington won 21-6 at Northwich on October 16, but last week they received notification from Twickenham that one player was not registered.

In line with competition rules, Northwich will now take their place in the second round against Lymm on November 13.

Park chairman Brian Patterson said: "We made a mistake and played a player not properly registered. He is from Winnington and known as a Winnington player, but the administration has fallen down.

"When we go into a match we name our team and that is signed by Northwich, so it was a genuine mistake.

"Twickenham said we have played an unregistered player and they are right so we have no choice. Even if you play an unregistered player in a league match you lose two points so there is nothing to be gained from it.

"The game was a hard-fought cup tie played in good spirit and there are no hard feelings. We wish Northwich well in the next round."

A Northwich RFC spokesman said: "We sympathise with Winnington and accept that it was an honest mistake.

"As far as we are concerned, they won the match fair and square and we would have been happy for them to take their place in the next round at Lymm."

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.