THIS was yet another feisty and entertaining encounter between Oxton Parkonians and Prenton at a windswept Holm Lane.

It ended in a thoroughly deserved victory for Parkonians with an emphatic 41-12 scoreline!

The home side were on the scoreboard in the just the second minute with a charge down try from Andy Smith and Alan Hughes added a penalty goal in the 10th minute.

Prenton hadn't been in the game so far but they bounced back immediately following some lax Parkonian tackling, scoring a converted try pulling the score back to 8-7.

There followed a fairly even spell of play before the pacy Andy Smith crossed again for an unconverted try in the 31st minute.

Again Prenton struck, scoring a try of their own just four minutes later.

The half-time score was 13-12 in Parkonians favour in what had been a pretty even first period.

The home side had played with the elements behind them and the general feeling was that Prenton would edge the game in the second half.

This was not to be the case however.

After a quiet ten minutes, Parkonians really sprang into action and enjoyed a twenty minute golden passage of play in which they scored four tries!

Harry Eastwood struck in the 50th minute, Andy Smith then crossed over following a fabulous Gareth Pryce break in the 59th minute; then it was Andy Smith again following a deft kick through by Harry Eastwood.

It was then Harry Eastwood himself just a few minutes later.

All of the tries were converted by the ever reliable Alan Hughes.

To Prenton's credit they never gave up and were indeed the stronger side in the last ten minutes.

However, they were kept out by some very determined Parkonian tackling.

This had been a real team effort but outstanding for the host club were obviously the classy Andy Smith with his four tries and Harry Eastwood with his brace.

There were strong games too from Alan Hughes, captain Liam Evans and semi-veteran Gareth Pryce.

In addition it was most encouraging to see again promising play from teenagers Steve Bordley and Danny Gilfoyle.

Yet another promising teenager, Jay Barham at full back had to leave the action early on due to injury.

It appears to have been just a black eye and swelling so I am sure Jay will be back on the pitch very soon.

Congratulations to both sides on providing such entertainment, in front of a large crowd , and to young referee Mike Goodwin who had an excellent game keeping the players in good order.

After this fabulous local derby victory seeing Parkonians up to third place in the league table they travel this coming Saturday to Newton le Willows whom they narrowly beat at Holm Lane back in September.

Many thanks to our Match Day Sponsor, Wirral Vision and Raffle Sponsor Mal Evans.