LIVERPOOL St Helens produced a monumental defensive performance to come away with a bonus point victory to a Winnington Park side who must still be wondering how they didn’t manage to win.

Playing without the ball for much of the second half it was only true grit and determination that got LSH over the line in a battling encounter.

In a frenetic start to the game both sides exchanged tries with their opening attacks. LSH first worked the ball from the kick off to winger Pickavance who had the simple task of putting the ball down in the far corner, Filson with a superb touchline conversion.

Then from the resultant kick off Winnington collected the ball and worked it to their strong running no.8 who mauraded his way over, conversion missed.

LSH nipped in front when a series of attacks on the opposition line were negated, the ball broke free and livewire scrum half Wilson, who had a solid game, was on hand to pounce and dive over the line to score a deserved try.

The rest of the second half ebbed and flowed and Park got a foothold back in the game when after a sustained period of pressure they manged to nip over the line with last play of the half to make it 10-12 at half time.

The second half was a much different game to the first. For the entire opening 20 minutes Winnington repeatedly attacked and following the sin binning of LSH’s replacement Gore, tried to batter the defensive line in all areas.

LSH stood firm on several occasions, Winnington having a try ruled out for a knock on and four times being held up over the line.

But the crucial blow came after the unfortunate sin binning of LSH’s Burrows.

Park restarted the game and tried to swing the ball quickly but were penalised for holding on.

LSH broke quickly through Devine who went on a lung bursting run, ably supported by Filson who scythed through the defensive line and rounded the full back to finish acrobatically near the sticks, converted by himself, a real dagger in the heart as this was the first time LSH had attacked all half.

In keeping with the scoring pattern Park scored a try of their own when a short kick off was collected and was eventually worked to the Winnington winger who dove in at the corner to leave LSH just four points in front.

The final 10 minutes saw Winnington chancing their arm on a couple of occasions but LSH managed to hang onto the ball and with excellent game management scored a rewarding bonus point try through winger Hodson.

The game ended with two successful penalties from Filson to leave the scoreline at 15 – 30 at full time.