WESTHOUGHTON Lions Under-18s suffered late agony in their bid to be North West Youth Division Three champions by drawing 18-18 against rivals Bury Broncos.

In a winner-takes-all game at Bury, the Lions knew if they turned over their opposition with a victory they would clinch the title.

Parent Geoff Sheelan, the assistant coach to the first team said: “It was devastating as Bury came from behind to level the scores. In the first half we played downhill and they scored two nice tries in the corner.

“They put the ball through hands and scored the tries.

“We came back into it when Tom Dermott kicked over the top and then it was fumbled by the full-back.

“Shaun Markland picked up the ball and touched down.

“Bury then scored again to make it 14-6 at the break.

“In the second half, the coaches gave the players a bit of a lift.

“We came back with a try as Aidan Mann dragged in a few defenders before Ben Sheelan span out of the reach of the players to score.

“We then scored another try soon after when Louis Townsend touched down.

“We knew if we could hold on for the win we would get the league. But they moved the ball from right to left to level the scores with a try.

“In fairness, the Broncos were worthy winners and they had been beating teams heavily this season and we were closely matched.

“Shaun Markland was the top try-scorer with 18.

“It was great considering some of the players were not going to play at the start of the season and they then came back.

“It meant we had a squad of 13-25 players and got together to play well.

“Some of the players have come from Bolton RUFC including Aidan and Louis Townsend and they have done really well.

“George Smith was the man of the match and it is credit to the coaches Paul Sumner and Benyon for getting them so far.”