Warrington regain bragging rights over Broughton Park

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ON a pitch made eminently playable by the efforts of club stalwarts Dave Cunningham and Jon Bennett, Warrington regained bragging rights over Broughton Park in a dour, but ultimately nail-biting, encounter.
The visitors, who were the only side to beat Warrington last season and had totally outplayed them earlier this season, found that Warrington are a completely different proposition at home.
It took just a few minutes before Warrington had the tins rattling on the scoreboard. After applying continuous pressure in the Park 22, the Warrington pack eventually released the ball and scrum half, Tom Wood fed his back line. Jamie Thompson then ran an incisive llne to take a short pass and skipped over virtually unopposed. Pat Roberts converted.
Taking heart from this early score, Warrington started to gain dominance. Joe Wilson and Matt Connolly ruled the lines, aided by the pin-point throwing of Joel Barker. The Warrington forwards, invigorated by the return of iconic hooker, Paul Thompson, took control of the set scrums and bossed the breakdowns. As a result, most of the play took place in Park territory, where Warrington’s backs contrived to break the strong Park defence.
Ironically, the next score came completely against the run of play, when Park broke the stranglehold with a good break from their outstanding centre. He fed his dangerous right winger, who showed his pace and body swerve to beat the covering Warrington defence and touch down close to the posts. The try was converted and the sides were level.
It was now Park’s turn to apply pressure and only sterling Warrington defence, and a superb strike against the head by Thompson at a five yard scrum, kept the visitors out. Warrington then came back on the attack and Tom Wood put in a lovely cross kick for Steve Pilkington and the winger made ground before being forced into touch ten yards out.
Joe Wilson stole yet another Park throw and Park were penalized for offside at the ensuing ruck. Pat Roberts’ successful kick regained the lead for Warrington. The home side continued to exert pressure for the remainder of the first half but, apart from an outrageous dummy from Zak Lythgoe, which was applauded with a cry of “ole” from the bullfighting aficianados in the crowd, the first half petered out with Warrington holding a three point lead.
The second half soon developed into a battle of two outstanding defences, punctuated by the occasional penalty. First Park kicked a penalty to level the scores before kicking a second penalty to take the lead. A Pat Roberts penalty put the sides back on level pegging.
Warrington were still on top up-front and they created a number of
chances: first for Kieran Hughes but the final pass was just too high for the diminutive winger; and then for Danny Fleming, who was unable to hold onto the ball five yards out. Eventually, this constant pressure paid dividends and Pat Roberts again stroked over a penalty to give Warrington a 16-13 lead. However, Park were by no means finished and redoubled their efforts. When they were awarded a penalty virtually in front of the posts, it seemed that the game would end in a draw.
Surprisingly, they elected to go for the win and kicked to the corner instead. Fortunately, Warrington’s defence was well up to the task and their line remained uncrossed up to the final whistle, which was blown to the relief of players and spectators alike.
“This was not a pretty game, although it did see two excellent tries,” said coach Darren Abram. “Even so, I was very impressed with the performance of our pack and in the way that our lads dogged it out.”


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Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.

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