Parkonians 17 Ellesmere Port 18
PORT withstood a second-half fightback to keep their promotion drive on track.
Led by man of the match and captain Phil Gow, the high flyers looked to be heading for a comfortable victory after they opened up a 13-point lead shortly after the restart of Saturday’s nail-biting clash.
But they lost their way and came close to throwing away what was their 11th straight South Lancs/Cheshire Division Three success.
Third-placed Port will aim to extend their winning run to 12 this coming Saturday when they welcome Liverpool Rangers to the Whitby Sports & Social Club. Yet to do that, they will have to play better than they did at Parkonians.
The fourth-placed hosts enjoyed the lion’s share of territory and possession early on, only to fall behind when Chris Carbutt slotted over a 22-metre penalty.
That spurred Port on and they moved further in front when back-row Jerry Philip took a loose ball from a home lineout inside the 22, barged past three defenders and crossed for a try which Carbutt converted.
Parkonians replied with an unconverted try, but the game seemed up after fly-half Carbutt added his second penalty and top try-scorer Ant Jones sped away to touch down out wide right.
But the visitors were unable to maintain their discipline and, after replacement front-row Paul Edwards was sent to the sin bin, the Birkenhead outfit reduced the deficit to a single point.
Port were now holding on by the skin of their teeth, but they managed to avoid defeat when a last-gasp penalty fell just short of their posts.
Ellesmere Port’s junior teams enjoyed success at the weekend. The club’s under 15s were 46-5 winners over Chester A while their U11s smashed Sandbach 75-12. But the U8s lost 35-25 to their Sandbach counterparts.
