So it was very much a makeshift side which took to the dry and dusty Upper Park pitch. The hard working Nathan Myers and Jay Corbett were pressed into service in  the second row with Gary Jackson making his season debut for any West side on the bench - he'd orginally decided to travel for the day out.

Both sides produced a feisty encounter which saw no less than six yellow cards - three for each.

Despite all the rearrangements it was West who went into an early lead. Park winger Dave Morgan was robbed of the ball as he raced in the West 22, and the visitors set up a counterattack with Tom Armstrong outpacing the cover and drawing full back Dave Hall.

He passed inside to Ryan Painter who still had twenty metres to go having to fend off some desperate challenges. Stu Waites, playing at full back to allow Gav Robinson to return at fly half, was narrowly wide with the conversion.

Sadly  the lead was to last only four minutes. Park mounted an attack on the right and won a scrum. Everyone was taken by surprise when the ball squirted out on the blindside to give winger Sam Chidley the simplest of tasks in touching down. Skipper Dave Hall slotted a fine conversion form the touch line.

The home side were dominating the line-out, but came up against some superb defence from the hard working West side with Nathan Myers outstanding at the breakdown.

In the end Park were happy to go for a penalty on the half hour after being held up over the line with as second penalty on half time giving them a 13-5 lead.

With the wind at their backs Gave Robinson put in some fine kicks to the corner to mount pressure on the home defence, but the game became increasingly fractious.

Park prop Matty Ibbotson and  Andy Dixon were both yellow carded by referee Dean Walker  on 55 minutes, after a Park player kicked out in a maul and Dixon retaliated. West opted for a kick to the corner instead of a shot at the penalty but lost the line-out.

Three minutes later there were two more cards, and a penalty to West,  when Nathan Myers and Park’s second row Jack Ashcroft clashed as Myers was taken out off the ball.

Dixon had barely returned to the fray when West’s Jon Boatman and Park back row Rob Dolan were sent to the bin after another an incident and another penalty to West.

Both sides continued to hammer away, but it looked as though the second half would end without any addition to the score until a West kick into the home 22 was gathered by full back Hall. He evaded the first two tired tackles to send winger Hughes away up the wing evading the West cover to go in at the corner. Hall’s missed conversion signalled the final whistle.

Birkenhead Park: Dave Hall, Greg Hughes, Joe Spencer, Danny Rich, Sam Chidley, Lee Brogan, Sam Chidley, Gareth Jones, Stuart Brown, Matty Ibbotson, Jack Ashcroft, Colin Campbell, Rob Doolan, Ashley Oliver,  Reps: Martin O’Keefe, Shaun Woof, Luke Swan.

Tries: Hughes [2]

Cons: Hall [1]

Pens: Hall [2]

Yellow: Ibbotson, Ashcroft, Doolan.

West:  Stu Waites, Tom Armstrong, Andrew Cheslin, Greg Edwards, Craig Swales, Gav Robinson Ryan Painter, Ian Pinchen, Andrew Dixon, Adam Coates, Jay Corbett, Nathan Myers, Alex Barker, Dan Boatman, Jon Boatman. Reps: Gary Jackson, Chris Atkins, Martin Todd.

Tries: Painter.

Yellow: Dixon, Myers, J Boatman.

Referee: Dean Walker