Swinton Lions 22 - Leigh Centurions 34

THE verdict after Sunday's home defeat against Leigh was that the Lions had got better but were still not quite good enough.

Still in the hunt at the break, they failed to trouble the scoreboard operator in the second half until it was too late.

They got off to a disastrous start by losing Gavin Price-Jones in only the second minute with a hip injury and then almost immediately conceded a try to Leigh second row forward Heath Crookshank.

Paul Wingfield, who had an excellent afternoon with the boot, kicked the first of his seven goals to give the visitors an early 6-0 lead.

The Lions hit back with a Steve Gartland penalty as the game swung from end to end.

David Ingram lost the ball over the Swinton line with Wes Rogers and Carl McCabe both going close at the other end.

Cliff Eccles then made a great break but lost the ball in a one-on-one tackle. Crookshank then blotted his copybook in an off-the-ball tackle on Gartland and the Swinton player promptly converted the penalty to narrow the deficit.

The Lions then hit the front on 22 minutes. Gartland, Ian Watson, Jim Evans and Howard Hill all handled to send man of the match Mark Welsby in for a try which Gartland also converted.

Wingfield kicked a penalty for offside before Swinton, living dangerously, held both Anthony Murray and Tim Street on their backs over the line in quick succession.

Not to be out done, Radney Bowker crossed under the posts from a neat Scott Hilton pass with Wingfield again adding the extras. He also landed a penalty when Gartland and Tony Barrow were pulled up for obstruction. Three minutes from the break Swinton levelled the scores when a superb Gartland crossfield kick was plucked out of thin air by Simon Ashcroft for a simple touchdown and Gartland yet again added the goal points.

That wasn't all. With the time-keeper's finger about to press the button for the half-time hooter, Paul Norman fortuitously scored under the posts after Bowker's pass bounced off his feet and over the line. Wingfield made it 22-16 at the break.

The Lions remained scoreless after the break until the 80th minute. They came up against a concrete wall of red-shirted defenders. The effort was there but the Leigh defence was superb.

Norman crossed for his second try almost straight from the restart but the score that killed the game came on 59 minutes. Keiron Purtill was awarded a penalty try after appearing to be obstructed by Ashcroft. The fact that Wingfield knocked on in the build-up was missed by the officials.

So it was left to Swinton sub Steve Taylor to bring some respect to the final score when he was put through by Gartland to burst over close to the posts. Gartland converted before the final hooter sounded on yet another defeat for the Lions.

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