WEST Park were made to rue missed chances as they fell to their fourth straight defeat at home to Glossop on Saturday.

Despite leading 13-5 at the interval thanks to tries from Warren Hunt and Andrew Sterry, their second-half performance was error-strewn and their visitors hit back to take the win.

A worrying dip in form has dented Park’s chances of catching the top two, neighbours Liverpool St Helens and leaders Northwich, with just five games remaining in the season.

The home side started well enough, with Hunt’s penalty getting the scoreboard rolling before Glossop notched the first try of the afternoon.

A delicate chip was sent over the home defence and winger Karl Hart raced onto it to touch down in the corner and edge the home side in front despite the missed conversion.

West Park hit back though and a fine handling move saw the ball reach Hunt and he dived over in the corner to steal the initiative back for his side.

He couldn’t convert the try, but a Glossop player was soon sin-binned and that allowed Park to stretch their lead.

They showed their strength at the set-piece as a fine catch and drive from a line-out allowed Sterry to barge over. Hunt narrowly missed the conversion, but Park had an eight-point lead at the break.

The hosts had the chance to stretch the lead even further when they were awarded a penalty, which Hunt kicked to bring the advantage up to 11 points.

However, the visitors took over from then on and were the next to score when a fly hack out of defence fell kindly for scrum-half Josh Sconzak, who finished well under the posts for a converted try.

As the home forwards tired, Glossop’s heavier pack began to take charge and they rumbled their way over for an unconverted try to give them a one-point lead going into the final stages.

Park had numerous chances to steal the lead back, but they were hindered by poor handling and indiscipline, highlighted when Sterry was sin-binned for handling in the ruck late on.

This led to considerable pressure on the home pack and Glossop took advantage with another driven try to seal their victory.