SWINTON LIONS coach Anthony Murray praised the loyal supporters who followed the team to Orrell and said: “We’ll keep working hard to reward you with a win.”
With Heywood Road unavailable due to pitch renovation work being undertaken by rugby union landlords Sale, their most recent home showdown with Halifax was switched to the Edge Hall Road Community Stadium, jointly operated by Wigan’s Rugby League and football clubs for use by their women’s teams and 28 miles away by motorway.
The Lions lost 24-22 to Myles Lawford’s conversion of Jesse Soric’s last-gasp try, having fought their way back into the contest.
It was a second successive narrow defeat after going down 36-32 at Rochdale, and Murray said: “It was tough to take.
“We made too many errors in the first half, knocking the ball on and not being clean enough coming out of yardage.
“That meant we put ourselves under pressure and Halifax took advantage, but we still managed to score a couple of tries.
“The message at half-time was that we were only four points behind and by completing higher, we could get back into it.
“We knew if we did that we could cause them problems. That’s what happened and at 22-14, we should have gone on to win.
“Halifax got back into it, but under a lot of pressure, we were defending with desperation, so it was a real blow to concede that last try.”
Swinton visit Midlands on Saturday then have trips to Keighley, Halifax and Murray’s former club Whitehaven.
“Our fans came in their numbers to Orrell, and I think they saw a team who showed the club matter to them,” he added.
“We’ll keep working hard, and a win isn’t far away.”