THE fight for survival in South Lancs/Cheshire Three is balanced in Ellesmere Port's favour after Saturday's close victory.
Six teams out of 11 are still facing relegation, with bottom club Holmes Chapel on 10 points, second-bottom Marple on 11 and the other four, including Port, on 12.
Port player coach Dave Layder said: 'It was crucial for us to win against Parkonians to give ourselves the best chance of escaping the drop.'
In a close first half, Phil Gow gave Port the lead midway through with an unconverted try.
A stop-start game saw both sides give numerous penalties away but at half-time the score remained 5-0 to Port.
Just 10 minutes into the second half, Parkonians equalised and soon afterwards doubled their lead after breaking from their own 22, outsprinting the would-be Port tacklers to score between the posts.
But with just two minutes remaining Paul Millington chased his own kick and, after Parkonians' fullback missed it, he gathered the ball and grounded.
Layder held his nerve and put the conversion over to give Port a crucial victory.
Without the win, Port would have gone joint bottom.
Now they face a Newton-le-Willows side in a fortnight who have nothing left to play for, while their relegation rivals end the season either playing each other or playing sides who mostly still harbour title hopes.
'A lot of our older, more experienced players made themselves available to bolster the team and that certainly helped,' said Layder. 'Neil Percival and Gareth Jones came out of the game with particular credit.
'The league is now in a crazy situation. A few weeks ago our season looked dire, but now there is a chance we could finish fifth if we win our final game!
'At the same time we could still go down and finish in every position in between, but at least it is in our hands.'
Port take a break from league action on Saturday and travel to Crewe and Nantwich for a Cheshire Plate semi-final.
Layder added: 'They are in a higher division than us but if we did beat them we could end up finishing fifth and winning a trophy. No-one would have predicted that in Febr uary.'
