WINNINGTON joined the list of narrow victors over their fallen South Manchester hosts on Saturday.
Bottom club Broughton had lost seven times by five points or fewer. 'That shows they are fighters,' said skipper Mike Bebington after Winnington had become club number eight.
Having sold off their Cliff Road ground and moved to the Hough End complex, Broughton are in a transitional phase.
At present, a rather impressive clubhouse is being erected but this will not be completed until the summer and, meanwhile, the players have the luxury of portable changing rooms and a trek to the first-team pitch.
Winnington's player-coach Mark Warr knew that motivation was going to be a key factor. Warr took the unusual step of including Chairman of Supporters Alan Hornby in the pre-match pep talk. What was said in that changing room only the players know, but it did the trick on a heavy pitch.
Both sides played the game with ball in hand and there was plenty of honest endeavour.
Winnington started brightly with colossus second-row Rich Jennings leading the charge. Ben Barton was probing at every opportunity and the Winnington backs were taking the game to Broughton. On 23 minutes, Winnington's efforts were rewarded when Ben Barton knocked over a penalty with his second attempt.
The game changed at this point and Broughton went on the offensive for 20 minutes. They battered the visitors' line but the Winnington defence held solid. Eventually, Broughton's stand-off Peter Oakes realised they weren't going to register the try they deserved and he opted to pop over a drop goal to level the scores.
On 50 minutes, Winnington brought on Warr for Mark Patterson and they reshuffled to accommodate him at scrum. Warr has been out injured since pre-season and all indicators showed he is back to his competitive best.
Winnington had good territorial advantage and Simon Newall, a late replacement at number eight, had a great spell and worked tirelessly in the back row.
A break from Sam Barton into the Broughton Park 22 gifted brother Ben an easy penalty and Winnington led 6-3 with 15 minutes to go.
They introduced the fresh legs of Tom Ryder and Conrad Blenkinsop and Winnington ended the game clinging to the two points, having seemingly condemned Broughton Park to relegation.
Winnington 2nd XV rebounded from narrow defeat the previous week to beat Broughton Park 26-10 via two Terry Jones tries and two conversions and three penalties from Dave Hill.
WPRFC Vagabonds beat Macclesfield 3rds 27-12 (Bytheway 3, Freestone, Holbrooks tries; Holbrooks con).
Winnington host Cumbrian side Wigton on Saturday (2.30pm).
Juniors: Under 15s - Manchester 15 Winnington 36 (Andrew Heptinstall 3, Michael Morten 2, Gareth Clwyd-Jones).
Park's minis hosted a three-cornered tournament on Sunday and results included: U12s - Sandbach 7 Northwich 0; North-wich 14 Sandbach 21; U11 - Winnington 7 Northwich 21; Sand-bach 0 Northwich 28; U10s - Winnington 0 Northwich 20 (Henry Bellis 2, Matthew Beesley 2); Winnington 40 (Spaven 3, Dykes 2, Reynolds, Pym, Sanson tries) Sandbach 0; U9s - Winnington 5 (Alex Moreton try) Sandbach 15, 0-5 and 0-35; Winnington 0 Northwich 5 (Thomas Price); Winnington and Northwich U8s drew.
