Swinton Lions continue to fly high as they were able to walk away victorious after another late strike to take the points against Keighley Cougars.
The Lions were travelling into the fixture looking to maintain their winning form as they look to catapult themselves back into the Championship.
However, with an away trip to the Cougars they were met by a strong start from the opposition, as they tested the Lions defence.
And with the away side holding their own, they were finally opened as Brad England opened the scoring when he dummied his way to the line to score by the posts and Jack Miller converted.
Swinton Lions with a hill to climb had to avoid the deficit growing any further – but struggle to break through the strong and disciplined defence.
But in the seventeenth minute of the fixture a Cougar player was sent off the field, for a head injury assessment following a tackle.
And despite the Lions good chances, the Cougars defence held firm, and they went further ahead just before the halftime when Miller spun the ball right to send Josh Lynam over for the try and Miller converted again.
But with the Cougars having a healthy 12-0 lead, the two teams were happy to go back and forth but the strong and determined defences held out till the half-time whistle.
The second half began, and the Cougars forced a goal line drop out from the restart and the Lions defence was under pressure again.
However, in the second half the Lions seemed more resilient despite the mounting pressure – but after a few minutes it was the Lions throwing everything at the line and Gav Rodden went close before Harry Higham was dumped into touch going for the corner.
And then Mitch Cox had a chance from a Reece Briers kick to continue the points scoring but knocked on the ball.
They did open their scoring on fifty minutes when Jordan Paga was first to react to a Briers high kick and he plucked it out of the air to score by the posts with Briers converting.
However, the Swinton Lions still had a lot of work to do, as Miller kicked a penalty for a high tackle on fifty-six minutes to put the Cougars further ahead.
George Roby was causing the Cougar defence lots of trouble with his darting runs and twice went close.
Ellis Anderson broke down the left wing on sixty-five minutes only to be tackled into touch near the line and then Ioane was held up under the posts a few minutes later.
From this the Lions went back on the attack and changed the game when Roby again darted across the posts and fed Jordan Brown who crashed over in between them, and Briers converted.
The killer blow came with just three minutes left with the Lions on the attack and Briers launched a kick for the corner and Aaron Lloyd collected it to score by the flag and just like last week Briers landed the conversion against the wind off the touchline.
The Cougars went short from the restart but knocked on and then the Lions lost the ball in their last set and Miller gathered it to kick a forty-twenty but from the paly the ball and the clock running down the Lions held out to force and error.
And despite the hard battle, and mountain to climb for the Lions they were able to walk away with the points once again.
The team have shown that they are able to fight from losing position to secure points and keep themselves in the chase for promotion.
And the winning side will now turn their attention to their away trip against the Rochdale Hornets – with more information found here.
The match report was provided Ian Rigg, and the featured photo was taken by Craig Irvine.
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