Macclesfield Lions worked hard for their win at Broughton Park, despite an off-day on the field.
Sitting in a lowly league position, Park frustrated the Lions for large periods of the game with their determined defence.
The Lions retained their patience for the most part and, though they didn’t capitalise on a number of line breaks, they did score a brace of converted tries.
The opening quarter of the game was perhaps the Lions’ best as they pounded away at Park.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t capitalise on a number of promising positions through a combination of their own poor play and tenacious Park defending.
As so often happens when teams on top don’t score, Broughton Park took heart from their defensive display and the Lions performance dipped, ensuring a more even game.
The Lions were not helped by injuries to Nicholson and Robinson after 20 minutes.
They were replaced by Andy McGeorge and club captain Rob Bieniasz, who is continuing on the road to recovery after weeks out with injury.
At the end of the half, Adam Fisher capitalised on a poor Park clearance to break free and score a good try.
Captain Ian Roberts added the conversion for a 7-0 half-time lead.
The second half followed a similar pattern with the Lions attacking for the most part.
On the hour mark, following good defensive pressure, the ball fell kindly for Fergus Owens to scamper away and score. Again Roberts converted for a 14-0 lead.
The game ended with Park’s only period of sustained pressure but the Lions kept them out to record their first shut-out of the season.
There were good individual performances from Fisher, Dan Brocklehurst, Jake Emmitt and Phil Macey, filling in at scrum-half, but the man-of-the-match award went to Sam Moss.
Next week the Lions host Waterloo.
