NEW Brighton never fully recovered from a disastrous opening against Broughton Park as they suffered their sixth defeat of the season in North One West League, writes Andrew Stratton.

It finished 25-30 to the Lancashire outfit at Hartsfield but at least there was some consolation for the Brighton via a couple of bonus points.

The Blues found themselves a dozen points down inside the first four minutes.They quickly woke up to the extra task they had placed on themselves but could never get in front. Nevertheless a five points deficit in the end was somewhat hard to swallow.

Broughton who began the day two places and six points superior to the Blues in the table always posed problems via their fast running backs but were second best up front against a hard working home eight.

Two tries and a conversion made it 0-12 before Brighton came to life. Stephen Dean kicked a penalty in off a post and then Matt Cook went over from a rehearsed line-out manouvre with Joe Silcock converting.

Good play after a line out led to a third visiting try but a great drive by the home eight culminated in a Chris Mikali touch down to make it 15-17 at the interval.

A converted try and a penalty took it to 15-27 after 48 minutes but the home side responded via a Dean corner try and it was game on again.

Alas home errors handed Broughton a couple of penalties and success with one of them on 74 minutes made the difference a crucial ten points. This margin was halved before the final whistle with another determined corner try via Luke Thompson.

But it was too little too late and the Blues must concentrate from the off next time round.

In the same division Birkenhead Park finished 33-8 to the good against Eccles and are second in the table.

They had it sewn up by the break but lowly Eccles produced some spirited play later to prevent a bigger gap accruing.

Winger Matt Walls made a successful debut but for Park with two first-half tries. Danny Rich also had one in each half and Dave Hall added two of the conversions and a trio of penalties. Caldy found lowly Hull a bit of a handful in National Two North and were soundly beaten 15-44 It was no better for Wirral in National Three North as they went down 8-29 down at Billingham.

Ben Brooks landed a first-half penalty for Wirral and a third quarter try by Paul Lewis put them well in contention at 14-8 behind.

Billingham however were the stronger and added two more tries to a couple in the first period for a bonus point victory.

Anselmians finished 39-26 to the good at home to Bowdon in South Lancashire/Cheshire One but Hoylake came a 14-41 cropper at Manchester and sit bottom of the table.

There was a 0-60 thrashing for Prenton at Orrell in Division Two. Port Sunlight also lost 17-32 at Oswestry.

Oxton Parkonians took the Division Three derby against Oldershaw 32-21 at Holm Lane. Terry Williams crossed twice for the winners and there were also touch downs via Dan Blythe, Andy Smith and William Evans. Ben Sadler added two conversions and a penalty.

Wallasey enjoyed a 30-10 finish against visiting Ellesmere Port.

Caldy welcome high riding Otley this Saturday and Wirral have bottom of the table Beverley as visitors. New Brighton go to Widnes and Birkenhead Park to Wigton.

Other fixtures include Hoylake v Manchester Medics, Anselmians at Winnington Park, Port Sunlight v Orrell, Prenton v Marple, Ellesmere Port at Helsby, Oldershaw v Ramsey and an Oxton Parkonians v Wallasey derby.