Swinton Lions boss Anthony Murray was delighted after his side ended a 41-year wait for a win over local rivals Salford RLFC and clinched the Centenary Cup.
Since beating Salford 9-5 in the Second Division at The Willows in April 1985, the luckless Lions had suffered 15 defeats and drawn once against their city rivals.
But fortunes favoured the blue side of the city inside Wigan’s Brick Community Stadium as Murray’s men mounted a second-half comeback to win 20-18.
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.
Salford’s 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 took the lead on 19 minutes when a Jack Stevens kick sent Anderson 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, giving Salford RLFC a 12-6 lead at the break.
The Lions restored parity within two minutes of the restart 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 each other’s 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 high tackle on Sam Oakes.
Salford were coming strong and pressure on the line saw Declan Murphy, Loui Gorman and Joe Baldwin all held up by 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.
After the match, the visibly delighted Swinton boss Murray said: “You don’t get much opportunity, do you, in our game, to get some silverware? It’s the first time a trophy’s come about. Some of our players today have created their own little bit of history and won it for the first time in a Swinton jersey.
“We’ve also beaten Salford for the first time since 1985 or 1986, which is 41 years, and that needed to change. I spoke about it, to be fair, before the game.
“I’ve no doubt Salford, when they got their fixtures earlier in the year, would have been ‘We’re doing a double over Swinton,’ and we weren’t going to let that happen today.
“We were under some real pressure at times and we managed to keep ourselves in the game just with that energy and that desire to win. I think that was really important for me.
“We have come off the back of some defeats over the last five weeks, but the commitment, desire and enthusiasm has been in every performance. I knew if we stuck to that task today, picked up some of those really good bits that we did against the last league games that we’ve played, those positives out of it, we should have a chance of winning today and we did. I’m just so pleased for the faithful fans of Swinton as well.
“I’m just really pleased that they’ve stuck with us and been patient and seen a team that’s really working hard for the jersey. It’s so pleasing and rewarding when we’ve managed to give something back to the fans today. Winners against our arch-rivals and a little bit of silverware in the cupboard finally.”
Match report by Ian Rigg, photos supplied by MKS Photography.
