Swinton Lions’ fine form continued with a hard fought victory over a dogged 12-man Rochdale Hornets side in which the Lions won 20-16.
The home side took the lead in the opening minute when Hornets lost the ball from the kick off in the wet conditions and the Lions put pressure on the line which saw Stuart Littler send Shaun Robinson away to score in the corner but Ian Mort’s conversion attempt from the touchline hit the crossbar and bounced away.
Hornets tried to hit back and found themselves in a good position in the Lions twenty but the final pass from Jordan Case went straight to Jordan James and the Lions got the ball back.
Hornet’s winger Gareth Langley was sent off in the ninth minute when he said something to the touch judge after one of his players knocked on in the tackle. Referee Matt Thomason showed him the yellow card but as he walked passed him something else must have been said and the card was changed for a red one.
Danny Yates forced a goal line drop out for his side on twelve minutes and from the resulting pressure Wayne English went over on the left to score the try but Paul Crook was wide with his conversion.
Andy Thornley put the Lions back in the lead on twenty minutes when he sold a dummy to the defence and ducked a high shot from English to score to the right of the posts and Mort this time made no mistake with the conversion and they went even further ahead four minutes later when an excellent run from centre Chris Rothwell saw him race away to score on the left and again Mort added the goal points.
The first half ended with Hornets camped on the Lions line but some stubborn last ditch tackling held them out time and time again and the started the second in just the same manor with Crook going close in the opening minutes.
It looked as if Mort was going to stretch the Lions lead with a try in the left corner on forty-five minutes but a great tackle by Dave Hull just managed to shunt him into touch as he dived for the corner. Lions prop Mike Morrison was placed on report for a high tackle on James Tilley on fifty-six minutes .
Hornets were coming strong again and Crook was causing problems with high kicks towards the left corner and this paid off on the hour when Dale Bloomfield caught one to score on the left and Crook added the conversion.
The Lions went further ahead on 67 minutes when Chris Atkin broke a tackle to send Grant Beecham over on the left for the try but again Mort could not add the conversion but Hornets would not lie down and a super run by Lee Paterson down the left wing saw him cut inside to narrow the angle and score the try with Crook again on target with the kick but with time running out quickly the Lions hung on for the vital win.
