Caldy 7 West Park 10

TO maintain the slimmest of chances for promotion West Park had to winn handsomely at Caldy on Saturday.

Martin Strett's drop goal in the last seconds of injury time gained the two league points which took Park back to the top of North West One with one game to play.

Park had put constant pressure on the Caldy line in the game's opening quarter but found the home defence solid.

From a scrum a Strett cross kick was snapped up by Carl Bibby for the centre to register his 20th try of the season, Strett converting from wide out. Caldy were stung into an early reply and after Park had thrown in crookedly at a line out Caldy number eight Duncan Hendry picked up to score, fly half Peter Hart converting to level the scores at the interval.

Park continued to exert all the pressure and dominated possession without scoring the points they so vitally needed.

Caldy missed a penalty by a narrow margin in the 80th minute only to see Strett snatch victory with virtually the last kick of the match. By contrast West Park Colts lost to Ormskirk Colts in the Colts Cup Final to the conversion of a late try. Paul Bailey registered all Parks points with a try and a penalty but Ormskirks much vaunted pack which included two schoolboy internationals gained them a 10-8 victory.

This Sunday Park meet Wigan in the Lancashire Trophy Final at Orrell.

Other Saturday results: West Park 2nd 44 Widnes 2nd 12, West Park 3rd 43 Caldy 2nd 5.

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