Ian Rigg reports from Bloomfield Road
Swinton Lions pulled off a dramatic win against closest rivals Oldham to keep them away from the bottom of the table.
Lions Coach John Duffy said afterwards “In the first half we didn’t really buy into what we had talked about during the week as we knew it would be a tough game and we gave them too much space and they made us pay for it but I thought we were superb in the second half and Matty Beharrell had a big influence in that and eventually got us over the line in front of our very supportive fans who have been superb all season”
Roughyeds took the lead on nine minutes after Lewis Palfrey had forced Gabriel Fell into kicking the ball dead for a goal line drop out and from this the ball moved along the line for Kenny Hughes to score near the posts and Palfrey added the simple conversion. This was quickly followed by a second when Danny Langtree found a gap in the defence to score on the right and again the conversion was on target. They could and should have gone further ahead on twenty-two minutes but a superb tackle by Liam Marshall on Palfrey under the posts prevented the Oldham man from scoring and kept the Lions in it.
The Lions first chance came when Andy Bracek was held up over the line and then a kick from Chris Atkin proved too strong for the chasing Marshall and then another chance fell to Bracek but he knocked on in a good position. Roughyeds stretched the lead five minutes from the break when Palfrey kicked a forty metre penalty for holding down and it got even better on the stroke of half time when Adam Files scored and Palfrey again converted to give them a twenty point cushion at the break.
The Lions are a side that never give up and scored their first try two minutes into the second half when Gabriel Fell fed Macauley Hallett and he went in at the corner with Atkin converting off the touchline and three minutes later they were in again when Atkin himself sold a huge dummy to score on the left and again he converted. Michael Ward then had a couple of great chances for Oldham but good tackling prevented him from scoring.
Marshall almost scored another for the Lions on fifty-four minutes when he kicked and chased a loose Oldham pass but the ball just ran away into touch. The Lions were now starting to turn the screw and Atkin forced a handling error out of Jared Simpson and from the scrum Rhodri Lloyd went over from a Matty Beharrell pass on the right and again Atkin made no mistake with the kick.
Try of the match came on the hour when the Lions were on the attack and Beharrell was fifteen metres out when he chipped the ball towards the posts and it bounced over two Oldham defenders and the Lions substitute regathered the ball to score infront of the noisy Lions fans and again Atkin converted to put the Lions into the lead for the first time in the game.
Beharrell and Palfrey then traded forty-twenty kicks but nothing came from either of them but Roughyeds levelled the scores with three minutes left after another blockbusting run from Ward and Adam Clay went in at the right corner but the conversion attempt from Palfrey was just off target and it was game on.
The winning point came with around two minutes left on the clock when the Lions were on the attack and Atkin moved the ball to Beharell and he slotted over the one pointer right in front of the Lions fans. Oldham Coach Scott Naylor was very disappointed in his sides performance despite the good start they went off the game plan and lost the game.
Teams:
Roughyeds:-
15 Jared Simpson
2 Adam Clay
26 Liam Johnson
9 Sam Gee
4 Jack Holmes
6 Lewis Palfrey
15 Gareth Owen
3 Tom Spencer
21 Kenny Hughes
25 Tyler Dickinson
11 Gary Middleshurst
12 Danny Langtree
24 Will Hope
Subs :
14 Adam Files
26 Michael Ward
16 Joe Burke
13 Liam Thompson
Tries: Hughes (9), Langtree (12), Files (39), Clay (77)
Goals: Palfrey 4/5
Lions:-
22 Gabriel Fell
2 Shaun Robinson
3 Stuart Littler
4 Macauley Hallett
18 Liam Marshall
6 Ben White
1 Chris Atkin
29 Dan Fleming
9 Anthony Nicholson
16 Ben Austin
23 Rhodri Lloyd
11 Connor Dwyer
19 Josh Barlow
Subs :
7 Matty Beharrell
12 Andy Thornley
13 Rob Lever
21 Andy Bracek
Tries : Hallett (42), Atkin (45), Lloyd (65), Beharrell (69)
Goals : Atkin 4/4
Drop Goal : Beharrell – 1
Ref Rating : Warren Turley 65/100
Half-Time : 20-0
Penalties : 7-9
Sin –Bin : None
Sent –off : None
Weather : Warm and Sunny
Man of Match : Matty Beharrell (Swinton)
Attendance : 6391
Match rating : 4/5
