The game started badly for the Lions when in the very first tackle of the match they gave away a penalty for a high tackle which put the Raiders on the attack straight from the off and they took the lead on five minutes when winger Kyle Dolan beat Richie Hawkyard to score in the right corner but Josh Ward could not convert. They went further ahead on twenty minutes when centre Chris Hankinson strode through the Lions defence to score again near the right corner and Ward converted this one.
The Lions got back into it five minutes later when some good pressure on the line saw Tommy Gallagher score under the posts with his first touch of the ball and Chris Atkin added the conversion and they quickly took the lead two minutes later when Jimmy Rowland sent out a great pass for Matt Gardner to race away and score by the posts with again Atkin adding the conversion and the Lions were starting to get on top but again the defence was caught napping on the line and Nathan Mossop went over for the third try on the left and again Ward added the conversion.
The second half didn’t start any better for the Lions when Ben White knocked on at the kick off to put Raiders in a good position and seconds later Peter Lupton was high tackled and Ward added a simple penalty goal. They went further ahead on forty-seven minutes when Matt Heaton ran half the length of the field to score under the posts and Ward converted again. Rowland made a break for the Lions in a good position but ran out of support before the home side extended their lead when Dan Toal went through some weak tackles to score on the left but the conversion was missed.
Darren Hawkyard was sent to then sin bin on sixty-two minutes when the referee lost his cool and while the player was sat in the dugout Raiders ran in four tries with Joe Bullock, Brad Marwood, Dan Toal and Mossop all touching down and Ward converted three of them to take the game out of the Lions reach. After the game Lions coach John Duffy was very upset with his team’s performance stating “ It has nothing to do with fatigue from Tuesday , anyone can blame it on that but we have trained well and the lads have had massages and ice baths and the best things we can give them but they turned in a very poor performance which I take personally and there will be changes in the side next week at Batley which will be another tough game”.
Teams :
Raiders :-
23. Chris Fleming
5. Kyle Dolan
3. Chris Hankinson
27. Cameron Pitman
2. Lee Haney
29. Peter Lupton
14. Josh Ward
8. Joe Bullock
9. Nathan Mossop
18. Danny Jones
11. Liam Harrison
12. Craig Briscoe
31. Anthony Bate
Subs ( All Used )
6. Brad Marwood
10. Andrew Dawson
13. Dan Toal
19. Matt Heaton
Tries : Dolan (5), Hankinson (20), Mossop (32, 70), Heaton (47)
Toal (55, 68), Bullock (63), Marwood (65).
Goals : Ward 7/10
Lions :
7. Chris Atkin
2. Shaun Robinson
3. Stuart Littler
22. Chris Rothwell
1. Richie Hawkyard
6. Ben White
16. Jimmy Rowland
8. Mike Morrison
9. Andy Ackers
31. Rob Lever
11. Grant Beecham
30. Matt Gardner
12. Darren Hawkyard
Subs (All Used)
29. Mick Govin
13. Tommy Gallagher
10. Ben Austin
21. Andrew Ball
Tries : Gallagher (25), Gardner (27)
Goals : Atkin 2/2
Ref : Andy Sweet
ATT : 1064
Pens : 10-8
H-T : 16-12
Photo: Lions coach John Duffy
