A late try from Lions centre helped his side to victory over a strong Halifax side and the win means they are safe in the Championship for next season, a massive achievement for a team that has had a couple of tough seasons in the recent past.
Lions coach John Duffy played credit to his side who stuck to the game plan though out and came up with a deserved victory and they can go to Whitehaven now in a great frame of mind chasing the final shield place.
It looked like the gods were going to be against the home side when they knocked on straight from the kick off and put Fax straight on the attack but it took them four minutes to breach the Lions defence when Ben Heaton scored tight in the right corner and Nick Rawsthorne could not convert from the touchline but the Lions levelled on eleven minutes from a Fax mistake when they were attacking the Lions line and the ball went loose and it went through five pairs of hands before Chris Atkin finished off the move diving for the try on the left but he missed the conversion.
Atkin then added a penalty goal for holding down under the posts and after that the visitors seemed to be camped on the Lions line but some great defence held them out before the home side went further ahead when a slight of hand pass by Atkin saw Connor Dwyer go in on the left and the conversion was added.
Fax came back again strongly late in the first half but handing errors were hampering their chances and the Lions went even further ahead five minutes from the break when Macauley Hallett escaped a couple of tacklers to score on the left but Atkins conversion attempt fell wide and in the dying seconds of the half Will Sharp scored on the left from a Ben Johnston chip and despite the claims for offside the try was awarded but Rawsthorne again missed the conversion.
Richard Marshall must have had strong words with his side at the break as they scored the next try within three minutes of the restart when Luke Nelmes scored by the posts and Gareth Moore made no mistake with the conversion to bring his side within two. The visitors again continued to pin the Lions in their own half and there were several goal line drop outs before the Lions broke away again to score when White, Atkin and Dwyer all combined to send Dan Fleming away to score by the posts for his first Lions try and Atkin added the simple conversion.
Rawsthorne brought Halifax to within two points when he scored just after the hour and Moore made no mistake with the conversion again and it was game on when again they seemed to pin the Lions back in their own half but some great defence held them out time and time again and with nine minutes to go Fax won a twenty metre play the ball and it was swung to the right by Moore and Rawsthorne broke away to score under the posts at the other end and with Moore converting it looked like Halifax had snatched victory but the Lions had other thoughts and a good team passing move with five minutes left saw Hallett force his way over for the try on the left and Atkin made no mistake with the conversion to secure the victory for his side.
Teams:-
Lions:
20 Mike Butt
2 Shaun Robinson
3 Stuart Littler
4 Macauley Hallett
18 Liam Marshall
1 Chris Atkin
6 Ben White
26 Jake Emmitt
24 Luke Waterworth
10 Jordan Hand
11 Connor Dwyer
12 Andy Thornley
13 Rob Lever
Subs (All Used)
7 Matty Beharrell
16 Ben Austin
19 Josh Barlow
29 Dan Fleming
Tries: Atkin (11), Dwyer (29), Hallett (35,75), Fleming (50)
Goals: Atkin 4/6
Halifax:-
32 James Woodburn-Hall
4 Ben Heaton
36 Nick Rawsthorne
29 Chester Butler
2 Will Sharp
1 Ben Johnston
7 Gareth Moore
8 Mitch Cahalane
9 Ben Kaye
10 Luke Ambler
14 Adam Tangata
13 Jacob Fairbank
6 Scott Murrell
Subs (All Used)
17 Gavin Bennion
30 Brandon Moore
34 Ryan Boyle
35 Luke Nelmes
Tries: Heaton (4), Sharp (40), Nelmes (43), Rawsthorne (61,71)
Goals: Rawsthorne 0/2
Moore 3/3
Prog Score: 0-4,4-4,6-4,12-4,16-4,16-8,16-14,22-14,22-20,22-26,28-26
Referee: Tom Grant
Att: 582
Pens: 9-9
H-T:16-8
Men of Match:
Lions: Connor Dwyer
Halifax: Adam Tangata
Gamestar: Connor Dwyer – The Lions strong running second row man scored a good try in the first half and was involved in two in the second half.
Gamebreaker: Hallett’s second try in the dying minutes which gave Lions a victory and security for next season.
