WINNINGTON Park put some space between themselves and the bottom two thanks to a 35-11 victory at home to Crewe & Nantwich in rugby union’s Regional 2 North West.

Park produced a great team performance and showed another big improvement from weeks gone by.

They never trailed and were 12-0 ahead inside seven minutes, giving themselves a platform to build on for the rest of the encounter to achieve a result that took them out of the bottom two and put them six points clear of cellar dwellers Northwich.

With only three minutes on the clock Gary Dykes saw an opportunity with no guards around the ruck and picked up the ball to score the first try, with Cameron Flanagan adding the conversion.

Flanker Phil Lynch broke through a couple of tackles and scored the second try on seven minutes.

Soo after, Park indiscipline gave away a kickable penalty and Crewe took the points for 12-3.

The game settled down with Park in the driving seat and creating chances.

One part of their game was struggling, and that was their scrum, which C&N took advantage of on 23 minutes with a scrum penalty to close the gap to 12-6.

Then a yellow card for Tom King put Park down to 14 men but those on the field rallied and kept C&N out during this period with strong defence and great counter rucking.

The last points of the first half came from the boot of Flanagan from a penalty.

Ten minutes into the second half Park set up a driving maul which went to ground five metres out and Ross Morrin picked up and powered over to make it 20-6.

Five minutes later C&N earned a penalty from a scrum that resulted in a yellow card for Hanre Coetzee, leaving Park with a one-man disadvantage again.

Off the back of the scrum Crewe went to the short side and scored their first and only try in the corner.

When Dan Williams was tackled high and earned a penalty he took a quick tap and showed his strength to power over and score his team’s bonus-point fourth try which was converted by Flanagan who further extended the lead on 71 minutes with a penalty.

The last try came when Tom King drew his defender and sent Chris Twigg over the line.

Winnington: Will Du Randt, Chris Twigg, Jack O’Neill, Jack Williams, Jack Fenner, Cameron Flanagan, Richard Hart, Dan Williams (Captain), Phil Lynch, Gary Dykes, Josh Gledhill, Anthony Hopley, Hanre Coetzee, Tom King, Ross Morrin, Jacob Halstein, Tom Dodson, Bruce McGrogan