'Park pack dominate to beat Wilmslow.

Broughton Park 16 v 3 Wilmslow.

'Park win the final game but lose out on promotion. With Leigh also winning, Park are equal on points with Leigh, but points difference puts Leigh ahead so they get the promotion play-off spot.

Only three points separated the top 4 places with Wirral in 5th place a massive 13 points behind.

Team	P	W	D	L	For	Agst	Diff	Pts
Rochdale	22	18	1	3	639	185	454	37
Leigh	22	17	1	4	765	257	508	35
Broughton Park	22	17	1	4	570	298	272	35
Wilmslow	22	17	0	5	511	263	248	34
Wirral	22	11	1	10	458	399	59	21

'Park played with the strong wind in the first half and pressed Wilmslow hard. Within the first 5 minutes 'Park had a driven maul which looked as though it would go all the way to the line, but Wilmslow infringed and no advantage was played. On 10 minutes Centre Steve Newton looked to have made a decisive break and gained ground into the Wilmslow 22 but the play was stopped when he was found to have broken his ankle. Adam Brown came on as a replacement. 'Park were dominating but mistakes were costing them scores. All the pressure resulted in a penalty after 12 minutes and Ronan O'Brien stepped up to put it over. He repeated the feat again after 19mins from an even closer position in front of the posts. 6 - 0 after 19 mins. Wilmslow infringed again after 22 minutes and Ronan again put the kick over making the score 9 - 0 after 22 mins. On 30 mins 'Park were within 1 yard of the Wilmlsow line but could not ground the ball.

Wilmslow's dangerous looking backs got them into the 'Park half and Wilmslow were awarded a penalty when the 'Park forwards tried to win the ball illegally. The penalty was put over making the score 9 - 3 after 37 mins.

Almost from the kick-off 'Park drove the ball up into the Wilmslow 22 and fed the ball along the line to feed full-back Ronan O'Brien coming into the line and he jinked over to score near the posts. He converted his own try to make the score 16 - 3 at half-time.

The strength of the wind increased in the 2nd half so it looked as though 'Park would be in for a torrid time. This was not the case, 'Park forwards dominated possession and many times took the ball from their own 22 up to the Wilmslow 22 with driven mauls. When Wilmslow did get into the 'Park 22 they were kept out by strong 'Park tackling.

In the first half Wilmslow had dominated the line-out but a half-time talk by Mark Lloyd, the coach, sorted the problem out for 'Park. In particular Jon Knight began to dominate the line out. As the half wore on 'Park were winning all their own ball at scrums and line-outs and most of the opposition's ball. The Wilmslow scrummages at the end were going backwards at a rate of knots, due in no small part to 'Park Captain and loose head prop Andy O'Grady. Probably the most feared prop in the league. Even a fresh Wilmslow prop replacement made no difference.

The Rugby was not pretty but it was effective and there was no more scoring from the 16 - 3 in the first half.

Hopefully next season 'Park can capitalise on the good possession the forwards gain.