THE under-12s were toast of the Westhoughton Lions club at the weekend as they booked their place in the North West Counties Cup final.

Neil Hart's side came out on top in a cracking last four tie with Littleborough and came out on top 18-16 where the game was in the balance until the final whistle.

Elsewhere, the u10s made the trip to Pavilions in Hindley for a thrilling game of rugby league.

Zak Taylor scooting from the play the ball to score a great try under the sticks with Sam Dixon added the extras to give the Lions a six point lead.

The Lions would find themselves taking possession deeper inside their own half and Hindley capitalized with a try under the sticks as it ended 6-4 at the break.

The second half would be a different story completely with Hindley hitting the ground running in their opening set and playing some great rugby.

An error from a kick that would give Hindley a great opportunity, and some weak middle defence was punished with another Hindley score in a central position that would be turned into a six pointer.

Hindley's next score came from a kick that the Lions failed to deal with and a good bounce of the ball found a rampaging Hindley runner who raced un-opposed in the corner to give Hindley a more telling lead at 16-6.

There was a nail-biting finish to the tie as Jacob Lovett would get his reward for a superb mornings work with a solo effort that would give the Lions a more positive scoreline than they maybe deserved.

Lovett added the extras from the tee to make it 16-12.

Meanwhile, a second half comeback from Cadishead Rhinos fell just short of the mark as Westhoughton held on to reach the next round of the Plate competition, winning 16-14.

Early pressure from the Rhinos came to nothing and the Lions managed to swing momentum in their favour with two quick fire tries from the elusive Tyler Dwyer-Hodge.

With an added conversion from Taylor Hyland and with an 8-0 lead the Lions appeared to be gaining the upper hand until they suddenly found themselves down to 12 men.

Alex Lomax found himself in the sin-bin for questioning a second questionable goal line drop-out and the Rhinos capitalised by going over in the corner.

The Lions responded when Dec Ali pounced on an error from the hosts to go under the posts for a converted try.

Leading 16-4 the visitors became a touch too complacent in a tense second half with an increasing penalty count against them and a disorganised defence.

Cadishead cut the Lions' lead to two points as they began to sense a possible victory with two well taken tries but the Lions held on for the win.

Paul Moores and Tyler Dwyer-Hodge took the awards for players of the match from the Westhoughton team while James Teixeira earned praise from Cadishead to take the Man of the Match award.

Meanwhile, Jake Thompson (two), Joseph Higgins Meadows and Oliver Ellis were on the scoresheet for the Under-8s in their 7-4 defeat to Wigan St Judes.

The man of the match went to Thompson while top tackler was Joseph Higgins Meadows and best effort award to Oliver Ellis.