Against that, Rossendale knew full well it would be a stern task, never having won at the home of their more illustrious opponents who were one point below them in the league.

On a surprisingly firm surface and with conditions ideal for running rugby both sides attacked vigorously with Rossendale showing more flair.

The Rossendale half back pairing of Jamie Albinson and Steve Nutt ran the show for twenty minutes that produced three well worked tries.

Steve Nutt broke clear to feed Danny Harrison for the first before again carving open the Park defence to score himself under the sticks.

Both forwards and backs then combined well to create an overlap for Jamie Albinson to score in the corner.

To their credit Park did not lie down and proceeded to put Rossendale under the cosh with a number of vigorous attacks and it took a number of last ditch tackles

To keep the Rossendale line intact. Rossendale lost Judd Bamford to the bin for obstruction and the resultant penalty gave Rossendale a half time lead of twenty One points to three.

Park continued to take the game to Rossendale in the second half which eventually produced a try by their number six.

The conversion was missed. Rossendale replaced Leyton Taylor with Ian Marshall and the injured Dan Collins with Johan Goosen and began to re-assert themselves.

The Rossendale pack began to create havoc in the Birkenhead defence and the fourth bonus point try was eventually scored by skipper Jamie Albinson wide out, skilfully converted by Steve Nutt. The game closed with Danny Harrison sprinting clear of his opposite number in a kick and chase for what looked a certain try, before being cynically tripped. The Birkenhead culprit was probably lucky only to receive a yellow card.

This was a good all round performance from Rossendale playing as a team and with confidence. The pack stuck to their task throughout with young forwards Danny Greenhalgh and Andy Dauncey prominent.

This Saturday Altrincham Kersal are the visitors to Marl Pits kick off 2.15pm when the order of the day will be to maintain standards and avoid complacency.