You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

Pictures: Pete Green

Sport can be cruel. It doesn't matter how well you play or how long you lead for. All that counts is the score when the final whistle blows. Sunday's results were hard to take for Swinton Lions and my NFL team the Atlanta Falcons. Both led for the majority of their respective games but fell behind at the death.

But out of defeat comes strength and the opportunity to learn. Both sides are young enough to see the benefit of the experience. This was not last throw of the dice stuff. For Swinton, the defeat to London Broncos only hinted at greater things to come.

After winning three from three in preseason confidence was high among Lions fans and you could feel the crowd really buying into the team after they raced into an early lead. The first half at Heywood Road was as good an advert for rugby league as you could wish to see. The game was played at a frenetic pace but the quality was high and John Duffy's team dominated.

Having lost Connor Dwyer to the sin-bin, you could have expected Swinton to struggle for ten minutes midway through the half but they carried on like nothing had happened. Such was the confidence in the side, they pushed for quick scores even when there were opportunities to run the clock down. It was thrilling stuff.

Over the last couple of years the Lions have become known for exciting play in attack but weaknesses in defence were regularly exposed last season. Hard work over an extended preseason coupled with some quality additions to the squad look to have improved things in that area. London struggled to make any headway at times although they did have some success attacking the Swinton right wing.

In the end full-time fitness was the difference. As the game wore on Swinton perhaps paid the price for that whirlwind opening and former favourite Andy Ackers began to find space behind the ruck. The loss of Sean Kenny to injury meant Josh Barlow, back in the side after missing all the pre-season games, had to play more minutes than he looked ready for and the decisive moments saw Ackers very smartly exploit the opportunity. Fair play to London, they ground it out but it was hard on the home side.

The most exciting thing is that this wasn't Swinton at their best. They took a full-time side and one of the favourites for the division to the wire without firing on all cylinders. It was a good performance no doubt but there are areas for improvement.

During the first half in particular the Lions looked vulnerable down the right where the prolific Rhys Williams was a threat all game. Shaun Robinson found himself outnumbered a few times, notably making a try-saving intervention with a rush off the line to shut down an overlap.

As the game wore on and the Lions tired, they started making errors which put them under pressure. Soft penalties really hurt them although on a couple of occasions the officials appeared to get it wrong. Dwyer must have upset the referee with his first half holding down offence because when he clearly had the ball ripped from his grasp in the tackle the referee gave a knock on!

Anyway, what's done is done and Dewsbury are the next hurdle and a litmus test of how far Swinton have come. The Rams won all three of the encounters between the two last season with the performances at Crown Flatt being especially disappointing. Dewsbury will have a point to prove after taking a real walloping off Rochdale in their opener so the Lions will have to be prepared for a backlash. If a top four push is to happen, games like this have to see two points coming back across the Pennines. A good win would set things up nicely for the visit of Bradford and hopefully a bumper crowd at Heywood Road.

Come on you Lions.