Winnington Park v's Hoylake

Winnington Park 37
Hoylake 3

Hoylake travelled to Winnington Park with an incredible 13 players unavailable through injury, work commitments, mid season holidays and impending weddings.

However, the early signs were that Hoylake's inexperienced and somewhat experimental side would still put up a decent show against the league's bottom club.

After controlling the opening exchanges, Joe Lavin gave the vistors an early lead with a well-struck penalty. However, it wasn't long before a number of penalties conceded gave the home side the impetus they were looking for.

As the vistors' frustration grew with some of the bemusing decisions, Chris Whiteley was dispatched to the sin bin and soon Winnington Park had registered 3 tries and a conversion to give them a 20-3 lead.

The second period showed the same pattern. Hoylake being frequently penalised and Winnington Park taking advantage of some weak tackling as the vistors tired.

Another sin binning, this time to Eddie McCullouch meant that any chance of a revival was unlikely. As it was, Park scored another 3 tries to give them a comfortable and morale boosting 37-3 victory.

In fairness to Park, they played well and showed some good link up play. Even with the large number of absentees, the Hoylake players should have given a better account of themselves. However, the fact that Hoylake were missing key players in key positions most definitely affected the eventual outcome of the fixture.

On a positive note, Hoylake are continuing to develop their young talent, albeit in difficult circumstances. On this occasion, full back Dale Willis showed some promise and will compete for a regular first team berth with fellow youngster, Mike Kearney, who returns from holiday next week with his brother, Dominic. We can also expect Richard Young and Mark Wylie to be available for selection

On a negative note, the players need to take some responsibilty for not arranging holidays during the season. Absentees due to injury and work commitments are unavoidable but it's frustrating for the club as a whole when the sheen is taken off a potentially strong finish in the league due to continued selection headaches.

Next week, there is no league action but the 1st XV have a friendly against Rhyl which is yet to be confirmed. Watch this space.