Swinton’s final game of the season ended in a 40-18 defeat at already relegated Whitehaven.
Haven took the lead on three minutes when Dave Allen sent Ted Chapelhow over by the posts and Louis Jouffret added the simple conversion, but the Lions quickly drew level when Luke Waterworth went over from acting half-back and Chris Atkin converted.
Mike Butt put the Lions ahead on 23 minutes from an inside pass from Macauley Hallett and again Atkin made no mistake with the conversion.
But just before the break, and against the run of play, Ed Chamberlain dived in at the left corner and Jouffet again converted to level the scores.
The home side took the lead four minutes into the second half when Ryan Ince raced 60 metres to score under the posts.
Then came two more tries for Whitehaven in a nine-minute period when Dion Aiye and Grant Gore both scored converted tries to open up a home side lead.
Atkin redressed the balance by intercepting a pass near his own line to race the near full length to score on the left and Matty Beharrell added the conversion from the touchline.
The home side ran in two late tries from Chamberlain and Connor Holliday and Jouffret added one of the conversions but Ugo Perez missed the final one to bring the curtain down on Swinton’s season.
Lions coach John Duffy was not happy with the result and performance from his team.
He said: “We spoke during the week about finishing on a high but it seemed like we had put the cue on the rack after last week’s great win over Halifax.
“I feel we let our large following of fans down today after they had paid good money to get here.”
Swinton Lions: 20 Mike Butt, 2 Shaun Robinson, 3 Stuart Littler, 4 Macauley Hallett, 18 Liam Marshall, 6 Ben White, 1 Chris Atkin, NN Jake Emmitt, 24 Luke Waterworth, 10 Jordan Hand, 11 Connor Dwyer, 12 Andy Thornley, 13 Rob Lever
Subs: 19 Josh Barlow, 7 Matty Beharrell, 16 Ben Austin, 21 Andy Bracek
Tries: Waterworth (11), Butt (23), Atkin (67)
Goals: Atkin 2/2, Beharrell 1/1
Attendance: 723
Main image: © Peter Green/Swinton Lions
