WINNINGTON suffered their fourth consecutive defeat when a last-ditch try raised the prospect of relegation on Saturday.

They lost their opening couple of fixtures of the season by three and two points and at Wilmslow got even closer to avoiding defeat and were leading for much of the second half.

A lineout from the kick-off led to the home side going 7-0 up. They mauled well, scored and converted the try.

But Park put pressure on Wilmslow, also via a line-out, and the forwards drove the ball on allowing Sam Barton to score. His brother Ben missed a difficult conversion.

The introduction of prop Will Burgess at half time gave the Winnington forwards a new lease of life and they showed glimpses of the style of rugby that saw them finish second in the league last season.

They were camped in the Wilmslow half for most of the game from then on. They were eventually rewarded with a penalty in front, which Barton duly goaled.

Good runs by Park forwards Richard Armstrong and Wayne Bennett created further chances, but the end product was only another penalty for Barnton to extended Parks' lead.

Facing a rare Wilmslow foray Park were guilty of ill-discipline. Wilmslow successfully kicked a penalty and a similar three points was landed by Ben Barton shortly after.

The restart kick was poorly dealt with, Wilmslow won good field position in Park's 22 yards and threw everything forward in a last great surge which paid off.

Vice captain Mark Taylor said: 'It was another game that just got away.'

On Saturday they host second placed Lymm.

Park 2nds went down to Rossendale 2nds 22-10 (Gareth may, Paul Gibson tries) and the Vagabonds beat Crewe at home 20-18 (Paul Wilkinson, Simon Bytheway, Owen Tunney tries; Paul Escott pen, con).