Every cloud has a silver lining, and a narrow loss to Winnington Park at Burrows Hill for fourth-placed Douglas in Regional Two North West certainly had a glimmer around the gloom.
Without Owen Carvin and Ethan Kermode through injury and Liam Kirkpatrick unavailable, Brandon Hass made a front-row debut and winger Sheldon Higgins was called up for his first start.
Winnington Park in seventh named a full strength squad and were keen to make up for the 25-9 Douglas win in October.
Under the Posts
In the fifth minute Douglas winger Ollie Corkish collected a kind bounce from Matty Wood’s deft chip behind the Park backline to canter in under the posts.
Wood added the two-point conversion for 0-7, but Park had some formidable ball carriers and early indications showed they would be happy to go through rather than around the Douglas defensive line.
Wave after wave of hard running was met with equal mettle from the Manx side, with Simon Hoddinott, Harry Hewson and John Dutnall outstanding, but every Douglas player was being challenged to step up the physicality. A penalty awarded for a high tackle followed, and from the kick to the corner Park scored.
A rolling maul drove towards the Douglas 22m, the short side was exploited and a simple numbers game got Robin Londes over in the corner for the run-around under the posts.
Douglas were back in a 7-10 lead shortly after through the boot of Wood, but Park were next to cross the whitewash. Another Douglas infringement, another kick to the corner, and this time the Park pack didn’t need the short side. Instead, the bulky forwards got momentum from a catch-and-drive and shoved Douglas back over the line for Eli Fakailotonga to score.
Cam Flanagan’s conversion brought up a 14-10 lead, and he added a high-tackle penalty on the stroke of half-time for 17-10 as Douglas did their best to deal with the size and power of the Park ball carriers.
Ticking Over
Referee Rosie Proctor took the interval opportunity to straighten out some rare touchline issues, and ill-discipline from Park allowed Douglas to keep the second-half scoreboard ticking over.
Two successful penalty kicks from Matty Wood brought Douglas to 17-16, and it felt momentum was with the visitors. Buoyed by their positive start, Douglas were creating chances but the final pass couldn’t be found to finish moves.
Josh Duncan muscled clear of his opposite number but the pass to Higgins went astray. Josh Campbell bulldozed through two tackles and drove on fifty metres before the move broke down as Park scrambled back.
Tricky Time
An injured Hass was replaced which forced a re-jig of the Douglas pack with the introduction of Zak Wickman, and further changes saw Blake Everson and Nathan Robson on for John Dutnall and Harri Wallis as Douglas hit a possession purple-patch. But points were elusive, and Park emerged from a tricky fifteen minute period to revert to their strategy from the first half which engaged the big ball carriers once more.
A third high-tackle penalty against Douglas was kicked to the corner, and Park secured a try similar to their second via lock Phil Lynch to stretch the lead to 24-16 with quarter of an hour left. Douglas responded with what transpired to be a priceless penalty three-pointer from the boot of Wood to reduce the gap to 24-19, but the match winning try stayed out of reach.
Wood with ball in hand made a few darts and Blake Snell and Harry Cartwright carried strongly, but Park rescued a 79th minute turnover and closed down the last few minutes.
With Vale of Lune getting no league points from their visit to Sandbach, the losing bonus point here took Douglas clear of their Lancashire rivals in to third place.
The final score was Winnington Park 24 – 19 Douglas.