ANOTHER puzzling performance from a team obviously lacking self-belief in their collective abilities, West Park almost snatched a dramatic win against bottom club New Brighton.

They scored three tries in the last 10 minutes of what until that time had been a less than exciting contest.

Team selection by both sides was badly hampered by injuries and availability, with youngsters Ryan Littler making his debut at scrum half and Jack Winstanley a debut at flanker for the visitors, both nonetheless turning in more than satisfactory performances.

Despite the visitors having little possession, the stalemate was only broken after 25 minutes when New Brighton scored their first try via an overlap on the blind side , winger Williams crossing in the corner.

The half time score at 5-0 was added to by the home side 15 minutes into the second half, as once again Park were penalised for an early push at the scrum, and a quickly taken penalty resulted in a try under the posts and easy conversion.

Only minutes later the visitors fell further behind as a slick move by the home side’s backs assisted by some poor defensive tackling resulted in a try which was not converted.

The realisation of a 17-point deficit seemed at last to spur the visitors into action, and with only 10 minutes of the game remaining a fine break by centre Josh Ainsworth saw the ball slickly transferred through several pairs of hands,

allowing Kal Warburton to crash over for a try which was magnificently converted from the touchline by Ainsworth, narrowing the gap to 10 points.

Almost immediately however a mix up in the visitors back line saw the ball go loose and snapped up by the home side for a simple fourth try under the post which with the conversion gave them a 17-point lead again.

To their credit, and with only seven minutes remaining, the visitors at last played to their potential with some expansive and attractive rugby, and another powerful run by Ainsworth and subsequent interplay saw Winstanley cross for his debut try, the score added to 2 minutes later as Luke Holland crossed for a try which Ainsworth converted to a least salvage a bonus point from a game that was always there to be won.

West Park entertain Hoylake (kick off 2.15 pm ) on Saturday and must look to a win, especially if the positive attitude shown in the latter part of this week’s game can be repeated.