Ian Rigg reporting from the AJ Bell Stadium Sunday
New Championship side Swinton Lions made the Rams fight all the way to the dying seconds to gain a hard fought victory. With the match switched to The AJ Bell Stadium owing to ground issues at Sedgley Park the Lions settled into their temporary surroundings with ease.
The home side made a good start and but for a wayward pass in the opening two minutes Shaun Robinson would have scored in the corner but they did take the lead a few minutes later when the Rams lost the ball in their own twenty and Chris Atkin sent a nice chip towards the left corner and the ball bounced nicely for Greg Wilde to gather and score but Atkin could not convert against the strong breeze. Rams tried to hit back quickly but Dale Morton was sent into touch as he went for the corner.
Dalton Grant had a good chance for the Rams when he broke free of the Lions defence only to be brought back for offside and the Carl Forster went close for the Lions and it took some good tackling to stop him. The visitors took the lead in the eighteenth minute when Shane Grady made a good break down the right to feed the ball inside to the supporting Josh Guzdek who scored by the posts and Ben Reynolds converted and Guzdek added his second six minutes later after a neat chip by Reynolds and the try provider added his second conversion.
The Lions had Connor Dywer stretchered off with a facial injury which he lost teeth and there was a break in play while he was treated and the incident put on report. Wilde added his second try nine minutes from the break when he chased a Ben White kick to the left corner and won the race to score but again Atkin could not add the conversion against the strong wind and the Rams held a slender lead at the break.
The home side were straight on the attack from the second half restart when the Rams knocked on in their own ten and from the scrum Robinson went close again only to be knocked into touch as he went for the corner. Rob Lever put his side ahead on forty-four minutes when another Rams error saw them lose the ball in their own twenty and some good pressure saw the substitute score by the posts and Atkin this time converted. Three minutes later the lead changed again when a good passing movement and an overlap saw Reynolds score in the left corner but he could not convert.
Two quick penalties awarded to the Lions put them back into the driving seat when Atkin converted both but yet again the lead didn’t last long as a mess up in defence from a scrum near half way saw Paul Sykes run half the length of the field to score in the right corner and again Reynolds managed to add the conversion to give his side a four point advantage.
Lever then put the Lions back ahead again on sixty-eight minutes from a scrum move and Atkin again converted but again the visitors would not go away and Guzdek completed his hat trick with seven minutes to go when he scored in the corner but Reynolds could not convert.
This set up a grandstand finish and the Lions did everything they could to get over the Rams line one final time with Atkin making a good break but the supporting Matty Beharell was tackled just ten metres short and then Robinson twice dived in at the right corner in two separate moves and both times he was just knocked into touch as he dived. It was a very brave effort from the home side but they came up just short.
Teams :-
Lions :-
1. Chris Atkin
2. Shaun Robinson
3. Stuart Littler
24. Greg Wilde
5. Greg Scott
6. Ben White
7. Matty Beharrell
8. Mike Morrison
27. Liam Hood
10. Jordan Hand
12. Andy Thornley
11. Connor Dwyer
26. Carl Forster
Subs (All Used)
13. Rob Lever
15. Corbyn Kilday
19. Josh Barlow
9. Anthony Nicholson
Tries : Wilde (4,31), Lever (44,68)
Goals : Atkin 4/6
Rams :-
1. Josh Guzdek
2. Dale Morton
4. Shane Grady
15. Jason Crookes
5. Dalton Grant
7. Ben Reynolds
22. Andy Kain
8. Matt Groat
19. Nathan Conroy
10. Ryan Hepworth
32. Kyle Trout
16. Toby Adamson
13. Aaron Brown
Subs (All Used)
31. Ryan Wright
24. Jack Teanby
18. Tony Tonks
6. Paul Sykes
Tries : Guzdek (18,24,73), Reynolds (47), Sykes (63)
Goals : Reynolds 3/5
On Report (27) incident on Dwyer
Referee : Chris Campbell
Att: 639
Pens : 8-5
H-T : 8-12
Prog Score : 4-0,4-6,4-12,8-12,14-12,14-16,16-16,18-16,18-22,24-22,24-26
Men of Match
Lions : Carl Forster
Rams : Josh Guzdek
Gamestar : Josh Guzdek – The Rams full back had a solid game and was in the right place at the right time to score the winning try.
Gamebreaker – The Rams defence in the final minutes had to be at its best to stop the Lions from claiming victory.
Coach Comments :
Glenn Morrison –
It was a very tough start for us today and we knew Swinton would throw everything at us as they are the type of team that never give up and that’s what we got. We had a good pre-season and I told my guys that they were to take nothing for granted against Swinton who had only one warm up game and they had a point to prove. We have a big squad at Dewsbury and I will look for improvement next week.
John Duffy –
I though we at least deserved a draw out of the game today and there were really good spells and really bad spells but I saw lots of positives from today and we have been going well in training and we can only get better and I thought the supporters kept us going too today and hopefully we can take these positives into out game at London next week on another fast pitch.
