LIONS CREATE MORE HISTORY WINNING THE CENTENARY CUP AGAINST SALFORD

SALFORD 18

SWINTON LIONS 20

IAN RIGG Brick Community Stadium Saturday

Swinton Lions ended a forty-one year wait for victory over their local rivals to win the Centenary Cup in front of a reasonable crowd. The Lions made a bright start forcing Salford into a handling error in their opening set. Deane Meadows was victim to a dump tackle on eight minutes, and this caused a fight between the two teams. Once the referee split the two sides, he sent two Salford players to the sin bin with Charlie Glover and former Lion Danny Lynch both going to cool their heels. The Lions then had a couple of good chances trying to make the most of the extra gap in the defence, but Salford’s scramble did well to keep Ellis Anderson out twice. OlI Garmston was causing the Lions defence lots of problems with his play and sometimes they struggled to keep the ball from getting out. Lewis Pilling had a great chance but lost the ball five metres from the line. It was the Lions who too the lead on nineteen minutes when a Jack Stevens kick sent Anderon in on the left and Stevens added the conversion; Salford hit back five minutes later when Garmston found a way through to score on the left and Kieran Dixon added the conversion. Both sides then had good chances leading up to the break but it was Pilling who put his side ahead with five minutes to the break when he went over on the left and seemed to lose control of the ball touching down but it was awarded as a penalty try and Dixon converted.

The lions increased their lead within a minute of the restart at half time when two Salford players allowed the kick off to bounce into touch and from the play the ball Aaron Lynch crossed in the left corner and Stevens converted off the touchline. Brad Dwyer was then held up before Harry Higham broke down the right for the Lions and he fed the ball to Tom Ratchford who drew the full back to put Higham over and again Stevens converted. Again, both sides then had good pressure on eachothers lines but again the defence was good. Stevens then put the Lions further ahead on fifty-eight minutes when he converted a penalty for a hi tackle on Sam Oakes. Salford were coming strong and pressure on the line saw Declan Murphy, Loui Gorman and Joe Baldwin all held up buy the super Lions defence. Garmston finally found a gap in the Lions defence with fifteen minutes left and Dixon again converted. Trent Kelly-Duffy and Louie Roberts were then both held up for the Lions before Dwyer went close again. The game was very tight and Salford had the last chance when Joe Hartley broke down the right with seconds left but his pass to Gorman sailed forward and the Lions counted down the final seconds to claim a famous victory.

MATCHFACTS

SALFORD

41 Declan Murphy

39 Callum Green

29 Louis Gorman

20 Joe Hartley

1 Kieran Dixon

7 Toby Hughes

28 Lewis Pilling

36 Danny Lynch

9 Brad Dwyer

37 Jack Bibby