After a week of solid training the day looked fair for Broughton Park to regain the league leadership and at the end of the game the 2 points needed were safely secured and Park moved back to the top of the table.

The game, however, was anything but straight forward, as Northwich, to their credit, did everything they could to stop Park winning the game. Infact there were times during the game when Park did everything to give the 2 points to Northwich as they continually but themselves in good positions only to give the advantage away by overeagerness and at times poor discipline.

For the first 25 mins. Park flattered to deceive and scoring chances went begging, infact Northwich were becoming more confident and beginning to threaten. Northwich began to string phases of play together but they tried one pass to many and Stuart Coackley gleefully accepted a stray pass and scored in the corner, to give Park a 5pt lead. Soon after Park increased their lead with Verbickas kicking a penalty to make the score 8-0.

With an 8pt lead the Park faithful fully expected the team to settle down and stretch their lead with ease, however, instead of relaxing Park seemed to become more edgy and began to give away penalties, one being converted by Northwich. From another penalty the Park defence were not organised and Northwich went half the length of the pitch to score in the corner bringing the scores level at half time.

The second half began with both teams attempting to gain a physical advantage and after a period of robust play the Northwich wing forward was sin binned. Instead of Park pressing forward and making the extra man count it was Northwich who lifted their game and scored the next points. Ronan O'Brien was caught on the half way line, the ball was booted forward and despite the despairing attempts of the Park defence, Northwich scored under the posts to lead, after a successful conversion, 15-8.

With 20mins of the game left and Park seeming bereft of ideas, the idea of promotion seemed a distant dream. Park needed some inspiration to get themselves back into the game. Finally Foden began to excerpt some sustained pressure on the Northwich defence. A jinking run resulted in the referee disallowing a Foden try because of a double movement. The pressure began to grow and Verbickas kicked a penalty to reduce the Northwich lead.

With Poole, Barlow and Wilson - who had a tireless game and was man of the match - leading the way, Park finally began to gain the upperhand. With 5 mins. remaining Verbickas fed Middlehurst, on the blind side and the winger scored in the corner. Two minutes later Foden scored a deserved try with a typical jinking run to extend the lead and with the Northwich team now comprehensively beaten John Clifford scored after good work from David Legat, to give Park a flattering 28pts to 15pts victory.

It's fair to say that on the day Park were the fitter more skilful team but without cohesion and team work Park will find it increasingly difficult as the season progresses. With Park at the top of the pile all teams will now attempt to topple them and individual skill will not be enough to win the remaining games. Once Park find that elusive link between individual ability and team work and players choose the correct options by playing the game as it was meant to be played, and that is, "'The simple things are often the best and lead to fewer errors," if and when this occures then Park should achieve their goal for the season and that is promotion.

David Walsh, 1st XV Manager Broughton Park