Winnington Park take the spoils

A new look Hoylake made their way down the M56 to play Winnington Park in the quarter final of the Cheshire vase. With several members making their 1st team debuts and a tough pre-season run by the new coaching team, confidence was high prior to the match however Hoylake never got out of 1st gear and were beaten comfortably by a young, fit and organised park team.

After only two minutes, alarm bells were ringing for the Hoylake pack as the first scrum saw Park wheel Hoylake's scrum with ease. Five minutes later though, Hoylake got their own back. But after 10 minutes Park pushed Hoylake off their own ball, Hoylake conceded the penalty but Park were unable to convert. Two minutes later and Park went ahead, their fly half kicking the ball high to their winger who was able to gather and score. Hoylake were struggling to gain and retain possession, giving Park the confidence to run their ball.

On the half hour Hoylake were again pushed off their ball in the scrum and Park's centre used his pace to evade everyone's half hearted tackles to score under the posts, which was converted to give Park a 12 – 0 lead. Five minutes later poor tackling again gives Park the opportunity to break away and move the ball enabling the centre to score again. Just as half time beckoned Hoylake had a line out on Park's 5 metre line, and a well worked catch and drive from the Hoylake pack saw Tom Corkhill taking the lineout ball before the ensuring maul went through several pair of hands working its way back to Tom to ground the ball.

With the halftime score of 5 - 17, there was a sniff of a comeback. However the second half began disastrously. Within 12 minutes Park scored three times to take the game away from Hoylake. The first their fly half dummied his opposite number with ease to score under the posts. The second came from a 5 metre line out which was mauled over the line. The third, a simple blind side run from 30 yards, the ball worked through the hands for the winger to score and run round under the posts. With half an hour to go Hoylake found themselves 38 – 10 behind.

Despite the impression given by these score Hoylake's set piece was far more solid and reliable with things starting to click. With a little more possession and perhaps Park relaxing a little as they made several changes, Hoylake began to make an impression so much so that one of Park's props was sin binned for throwing a punch as Hoylake drove for the line and park unable to stop the maul legally. Hoylake went for the corner and from the ensuing line out mauled the ball over the line again, this time Ian Stevenson grounding the ball. One more score was to follow for Winnington Park to make a final score of 45-10

There is little to add other than Hoylake are now out of the Cheshire Vase. A much improved performance will certainly be required if Hoylake are to reverse this result when they make the trip to Burrows Hill again next weekend.