A YELLOW card in the second half proved costly for Winnington Park in a 33-24 defeat at Crewe and Nantwich.

Two tries in three minutes early in the second half saw Park’s 10-5 interval lead evaporate.

But the game was back on a knife edge when a period of battering the Crewe line was followed by Ross Morrin diving over the ruck to score Park’s second try which was converted by Benny Elliot for 19-17.

Indiscipline then got the better of Park and Jarred Lange was shown the yellow card on 55 minutes for a high tackle.

C&N took the scrum advantage, drove Park back and were awarded a penalty try to extend their lead to 26-17.

With the one-man advantage Crewe put the pressure on Park and scored again on 64 minutes, proving to put themselves out of reach.

Park dug deep though and on 75 minutes Park got some field position and a lineout in the C&N 22.

They formed a maul from which Benny Elliot exchanged passes with Dan Williams before offloading in the tackle for Bradley Marshall to stroll in for the team’s third converted try.

Unfortunately, Park could not find another try to get some points from the game and it was definitely one that got away.

Eighth-placed Park host Whitchurch - the team directly above them in the Regional 2 North West table – at Burrows Hill on Saturday.

It will be the first time the sides have met since 2007, when Park ran out 32-15 winners.

Park: Chris Twigg, Charlie Hyde, Bradley Marshall, James Weeks, Dan Davenport, Benny Elliot, Cameron Flanagan, Ben Lilley, Matt Treacy, Evan Boucher, Alex Grogan, Jarred Lange, Mike Eaves, Jake Cornwell, Ross Morrin, Dan Williams, Joe Hickey and Sam Blears