WINNINGTON Park Men's 1sts final pre-season friendly ended with a narrow away defeat at the hands of Urmston.

And Park will be left rueing not scoring more goals, having enjoyed the lion's share of possession.

Park dominated the first half, but only led 1-0 at the break through a Mark Leigh drag flick shot from a penalty corner.

The visitors relinquished their lead to a soft goal only five minutes into the second half, when a through ball into the circle was deflected off a defender's stick and fell straight to the Urmston centre forward who rifled the ball into the net.

Despite this setback, Park took the lead again soon after when Richard Oakley collected the ball on the rebound from Danny Moores' initial shot and swept it into the goal from close range.

As the match wore on, Winnington failed to keep possession as well as they had in the first half, allowing the home side back into the game.

A moment of madness from goalkeeper John Paul Dodd led to Urmston being awarded a penalty stroke, from which the striker coolly levelled the scores.

As with after the first equalising goal, Park regained some of their composure again and looked the more likely of the two sides to score a winner.

However, as they pushed on, they were eventually caught on the break, with Urmston's forward rounding the goalkeeper and slotting the ball into the open goal.

l PARK'S U21s made a slow start to their campaign, losing their opening match of the Cheshire Tournament 1-0 against Chester and finishing all square against Timperley.

However, the team's performance improved with every game and it was Park's next opponents, Triton, who suffered the most.

Park could not have hoped for a better opening to the game, with Johnny Kettle putting Winnington 1-0 up inside the first minute and scoring the fastest goal of the tournament.

More was to follow, as Kettle scored a second goal and Andrew Charlton added a third as Park completed a 3-0 win.

Chester's goalless draw with Timperley meant that the victors of the final group match between Park and Alderley Edge would go on to play Deeside Ramblers for the title.

Park almost made a second dream start, when Kettle was presented with a golden opportunity to score, but he failed to convert.

Winnington continued to play well, but fell two goals behind before clawing one back with Sam Jones scoring from close range.

But that was as good as it got for the U21s who were eliminated after a performance they can be proud of.