Ellesmere Port 12, Newton-le-Willows 0: ELLESMERE Port surged into the top three after a comfortable victory against Newton-le-Willows.
The win means Neil Percival's men have now won four consecutive matches and are in fine form as they prepare for Saturday's showdown with leaders Oswestry.
After seeing his side dominate their Merseyside counterparts for the majority of the match Percival said: 'The conditions were awful and it certainly affected our performance.
'But it's great to get the victory and continue our winning run. We play the leaders next week and if we can win maybe we could have a chance of promotion. We will take a strong side there and we firmly believe we have no one to fear in this league.'
In driving wind and rain Port adapted better to the conditions and took the game to the visitors early on.
With the forwards dominating, Port always looked in control and on 20 minutes Phil Gow drove through the pack to force a try, with Dave Layder converting the kick.
Minutes later Gow claimed his second try, again forcing the pack over the line to give the home side a 12-0 lead at half-time.
In a game dominated by the conditions the visitors didn't threaten until midway through the second half when Port produced some stubborn resistance to keep them at bay.
Although Port failed to add to the scoreline they continued to play the majority of the match in the visitors' half with some intelligent kicking to the corners and dominated the scrum.
But the home side endured a nervy last 10 minutes after skipper Percival was sinbinned and survived a number of harsh penalty calls to hold out to claim victory. nPort's Second XI produced a superb performance at Whitchurch to run out 37-14 winners.
The first XI will attempt to extend their winning run to five matches when they face a testing trip to Oswestry on Saturday. Kick-off 2.30pm.
