IN front of a large and partisan home crowd West Park started well dominating both the ball and field position which was created on the back of some pin point box kicking by scrum half Adam Smith and strong kick chase by wingers Berry and Appleton.

After the early disappointment of a missed kick at goal Park took the next penalty opportunity to kick to the corner from the resulting line out a strong forwards catch and drive enabled hooker Tom Williams to crash over, the try was converted from the touchline by John Pape.

West Parks domination continued and a piece of magic by fly half Liam Hill unlocked the home defence and then followed excellent inter play with centre Green which resulted in Appleton scoring in the corner, however this time the conversion was missed.

Park suffered a number of injuries and positional re-organisations and it was during this period Blackburn established a foot hold in the game and following a series of penalties scoring a close range catch and drive try of their own also well converted.

The rest of the first half remained evenly contested with the half time score 12-7 in favour of the away side.

West Park reasserted their upfront dominance in the scrum and with strong carries from props O’Hare and Riley and second rows Harris and Jones established momentum in Park’s favour. Following another excellent Smith box kick the ball was claimed by Berry who fed centre Basley to score again converted by Pape.

Park were working hard at the breakdown and continually putting pressure on the Blackburn defence, which was again breached when full back Pape made a trade mark break from deep beating a number of defenders before finding the supporting Cozens who crossed for Parks fourth try, Pape duly converted and soon after landed a long range penalty to extend the lead.

Blackburn then through caution to the wind and enjoyed their best period of the game and some good running and support play resulted in a second try for the home side which was again converted.

However Park had the last say as Park ran turnover ball from within their own half centre Green put an excellent angled kick which winger Appleton followed up controlling the ball well with his feet heading for a certain try, however the winger was tackled without the ball and the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try which was converted by Pape.

This was an excellent result and performance against a strong Blackburn outfit who maybe under estimated the visitors. A strong scrum, forward carries and work at the breakdown laid the foundation for a good team performance with many excellent individual performances however it was two players returning to the team stand-off Hill and captain Cozens who were both outstanding in attack and defence and provided the leadership and direction needed at this level.

West Park have no game next week but return to league action on the 22 October when Cumbrian side St Benedicts visit Red Rocks.