HOCKEY: WINNINGTON players and their Macclesfield hosts put other hockey teams - and scores of football clubs, for that matter - to shame on Saturday.

After arriving to discover the Macc pitch covered in snow and the fixture seemingly doomed, Winnington and their rivals rolled up the shirt sleeves.

They quickly cleared the snow to the sidelines and enabled the game to go ahead, albeit 45 minutes late, while the weather caused postponements across the region in hockey and other sports.

The hard-labour warm-up clearly benefited Park whose Robin Bowdon had first sight of goal, though his shot went wide of the mark.

The visitors were on top in the early stages, winning a string of penalty corners, before being awarded a penalty when a Mark Leigh strike was stopped on the line by a defender's foot.

Leigh scored from the spot, giving the goalkeeper no chance of stopping a fierce shot.

Macc equalised with a goal hotly contested by Park, who believed there was a foot offence as the ball was played in to the goal scorer.

But they quickly recovered and took the lead again shortly afterwards, when Steve Campagnaro crossed the ball into the circle from the right hand side for Bowdon, who made no mistake.

Bowdon had a hand in Park's third goal, turning his marker inside out and releasing Dennis Topping, who beat the goalkeeper to record his fifth league goal of the season.

Like Bowdon, Topping went from goal scorer to provider, driving down the right wing and laying the ball back for Peter Evans to finish, securing not only the win, but Park's place in the North League for next season.

With three games to go and in a run of form in 2006 which rivals the top three teams in the division, Park are now safe from relegation and are aiming for a fourth-place finish.

Saturday: 1sts home v City of Manchester (2.10pm), 2nds away v Manchester, 3rds home v Wrexham (12.45pm).