Sat 19 Oct 2019, 15:00
“Farr needs to gnaw on toothless attack”
Winnington looked to have seized the win, with six minutes to go, when Park winger, Nick Clawson, roared over for his second try. Sefton, which had only won one of its previous six games, had taken the lead after 17 minutes play and had harried and blunted Winnington’s attack throughout a frustrating game and were hanging on to the lead and had the win in sight.
Although a scrappy, stop-start game, the final minutes were coming down to a nerve-wracking and exciting end. Alas, the cheers of the Burrows Hill faithful when Clawson raced over proved to be short lived as Sefton scored a try in the final play, to win 26 v 29.
Winnington showed plenty of grit and determination, especially in the second half, but were lacking a huge dose of composure. The Park backs delivered a horror-fest of poor passes, fumbled possession and stunted attack that was painful to watch. In fairness, Sefton were rapid in defence, but Winnington will reflect that they had plenty of opportunity to win this game. For a 20-minute spell in the second half, Sefton conceded twelve consecutive penalties and had two players sin binned and 1 sent off. Park did score a try during this period but the sharper, smarter team we saw at the start of the season would have been more ruthless. Park’s attack today was like a dog with no teeth; gnawing and persistent, yes, but ultimately not adequate enough to beat the team bottom of the North Two West division.
Park started brightly enough, when Clawson went over for the first try after eleven minutes. The conversion was missed but 5 v 0 was an encouraging start. However, shortly after the re-start Winnington lost possession and then, shortly after, conceded a penalty. Sefton won the line out which was only 15m from the Park try line and some lacklustre defence allowed a Sefton prop to grind his way over for a try. This wasn’t converted but Park’s lead lasted all of four minutes!
Worse was to come. Winnington lost possession again shortly after the re-start and the Sefton winger went on a 50m sprint to score under the sticks. This was converted and within six minutes of Park taking the lead, they were now trailing 5 v 12.
Park were camped in the Sefton half for the next 8 minutes and a converted penalty, kicked by Chris Twigg, who kicked throughout the match, narrowed to score to 8 v 12. Six minutes later however, Sefton’s lead was stretched to 8 v 15 when they also converted a penalty. Seven minutes from half time the Sefton 14 was sin-binned for a high tackle and the penalty was converted to bring the score to 11 v 15. The first half ended with Winnington continuing to make errors. Not finding touch with a penalty and incurring another knock-on.
Although there was only a four-point margin at half-time, so, all to play for, Matt Farr, Park’s Head Coach will have been disappointed that a penalty count of Park, four conceded to Sefton’s nine, had not been punished on the scoreboard.
If Sefton’s discipline had not been exploited by Park in the first half, then the second half was to prove worse. In addition to two further Sefton sin-binning’s in the second stanza, plus a sending off, Sefton conceded fifteen penalties to Park’s eight! Perhaps, this underlines more than anything, the blunt edge of Park’s attack.
Shortly after the start of the second half Park had a player, Alex Glendinning, sin-binned. This was the third consecutive penalty Park had conceded since the restart and Sefton made the most of the territory afforded by taking a quick tap to score under the posts. Minutes in to the second half and Park were now trailing 11 v 22. Even so, with plenty of time to go this was not unrecoverable.
Then entered the period of play where Sefton incurred many penalties and lost three players from the pitch. In a twenty-minute period there were twelve penalties that were all conceded by Sefton. Talk about giving Winnington plenty of possession! It took fifteen minutes into the second half for Park to score with the energetic Alex Glendinning, scoring with a forward pack driving over. This was not converted so the score was now 16 v 22. It then took another twenty minutes for the Luke Cannings to score on the far edge of the wing. Not converted. The score was now 21 v 22 and set up for a nail biting end with less than ten minutes to go.
Two minutes later came the unalloyed joy of watching Clawson score his second try and apparently win the game. The try wasn’t converted, score 26 v 22. The Sefton players looked dejected as the Park players hugged and celebrated. Alas, it was all premature. Winnington conceded two penalties and Sefton piled on the pressure in one last desperate attempt to score. They did. They bagged a try in the corner which was successfully converted. 26 v 29 and a last gasp victory for Sefton which, for much of the game, they had looked like they would win.
Park paid the price for poor ball control, a lack of composure and a glut of possession that they struggled to convert into points. All in all, a disappointing loss after an impressive performance last week away to Rochdale. Winnington seem to have deflated. They won their first three games and then lost the next three. This game was an opportunity to get back to winning ways. Sefton gave them a glut of possession. This is the fourth straight defeat. The intensity and composure dial needs turning up for next week’s game at Southport.
Lineouts – all but one went with the feed. Ditto, scrums.
Players that caught the eye: Sam Brookes looked composed when playing in the fly-half position. He has a smart passing game. Dan Williams and Alex Glendinning also delivered plenty of half-breaks and speed. Hooker Andrew Evans made some telling tackles and scooted up loose ball.
Starting team:
Mike Eaves, Andrew Evans, Shaun Underdown, Dave Cross, Dan Snowden, Matt Treacy, Alex Glendinning, Dan Williams, Dan Berg, Alex Burrage, Sam Brookes, Ryan Williams, Luke Cannings, Nick Clawson and Chris Twigg.
Replacements:
Lewis Pickering, Gary Dykes and Matt Fowler
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