SWINTON Lions edged out local rivals Rochdale Hornets 23-18 in a heated affair at Heywood Road last weekend.

Under the recent proposed changes to the league structure, only the bottom-placed team will go down from the Championship and this win gives Swinton a two-point advantage plus a superior points difference over the Hornets – the only team below the Lions in the league standings with just four matches to play.

After an understandably tense start the Lions rattled Rochdale with a three-try burst, the first couple from winger Joe Brown, the latter a wonderful 80-metre solo effort.

Brown was also involved in the build-up for the third, scored by centre George Tyson with all three converted by Rob Fairclough.

Morgan Smith did pull back a converted-try by the posts for Rochdale, who then had Luke Adamson sin-binned for a high tackle.

The Lions failed to capitalise on the extra player but did kick a drop goal before the interval to keep Hornets three scores away.

Rochdale six-pointers from Jack Fox and Richard Lepori made the home fans edgy but more excellent interplay from Tyson and Brown saw the latter complete his hat-trick and secure the win.