LANCASHIRE Lynx had to work hard in the end for this first away victory of the season after taking a stranglehold early on.

The 27-22 victory was as closely fought as the scoreline suggests.

After being beaten in midweek by Tamati's Whitehaven Warriors, this was good news for the Lynx fans on a wet, blustery day.

It wasn't long before Lynx scored after a period of sustained pressure.

Centre Darren Abram and winger Abram sailed over in the left corner.

Jones converted a difficult kick from the touchline to give Lynx a deserved lead on 10 minutes.

Five minutes later the excellent Steve Gee sold a superb dummy 30 yards out and passed to Phil Jones who went under the sticks.

These two again caused havoc minutes later when Jones put a cracking pass through to the second rower who stormed from the centre of the park but was put down inches from the try line.

New boy Ian Gildart picked up the ball from the play and powered over the line for another try. Again Jones converted and it looked like being a romp for Lynx as they reached 18 points without reply.

Steve Gee picked up a knock and was replaced by Simon Smith. Some reshuffling went on and all of a sudden Rochdale, who had looked all at sea, pressurised the Lancashire side and substitute Mick Coult scored.

Conceding possession from the kick-off they were in trouble again and more missed tackles sent centre Chris Hulton into acres of space on the right side of the pitch and he went over for a try after a 30-yard run.

After another conversion from Derryck Fox the Hornets were within touching distance.

They were unlucky minutes later, however, when the referee inexplicably only ordered a penalty instead of a penalty try for Lynx when quite clearly winger David Jones had been tackled off the ball as he was about to touch down a kick to the try line.

To compound problems, scrum half Neil Flannagan had been tackled after making the kick and had popped his shoulder out.

Lynx started strongly in the second half and Jones gained the advantage by kicking a drop goal a minute after the restart.

After 18 minutes the Hornets stand-off Peter Fitzgerald made a fabulous run from the halfway line, stepping inside three defenders and scoring a cracking try under the posts.

Moments later Rochdale's Steve Cameron barged his way over to give them the lead for the first time at 22 points to 19.

In a desperate attempt to get something from the game Steve Hampson brought Kyle White back on and it proved to be inspirational.

The front row forward put a great pass through to Murray who put Parsley down the left wing and then ran unopposed to plant the ball under the sticks.

Jones converted and kicked a late penalty to save the Lancashire side's blushes. The next game for the Lynx is away to Featherstone Rovers on Sunday, March 28, kick-off at 3.30pm.

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