SWINTON LIONS will be battling against the odds when they make the long trip to Workington on Sunday.

The Lions have lost their last six games, including a 24-38 reverse at Batley last Sunday, and have lost their last five away games, but the promisse of goalkicking centre Mick Nanyn and back row Paul Smith has sustained the Lions' faithful, while hooker Rob Barraclough has been a

revelation in his first season.

Nanyn escaped with a "no further action" decision this week after appearing before the rugby league's disciplinary committee following his sending off against Widnes for a high tackle on centre Craig Weston.

Swinton will be hoping to put in a good performance ahead of their return to the city of Salford when they face

Hunslet Hawks at The Willows next Sunday. The game, a home fixture for the Lions, has been switched because of work being done on the playing surface at Bury's Gigg Lane ground.

Workington Town coach Gary Murdock knows his side must win all three of their remaining games to stand a chance of getting in the play-offs. Town came desperately close to inflicting Leigh's second league defeat of the season last Sunday before being edged out by a single point in a Derwent Park thriller.

"It was the best performance since I've been here," said Murdock. "I felt that we outplayed them for long periods of the game and they scored the winning try in the 75th minute. Then we had a chance in injury time.

"We have gained a lot of confidence from that and also by running Widnes close in our previous home game.

"Again, in that game we had chances that we

did not take.

"Overall, our performances this season have been pretty good and it gives us a lot of hope for the future.

"We will be preparing like we did for Leigh for the Swinton game. It will be a big task to lift the lads up for a repeat performance and although Swinton are having a bad run with injuries they have been competitive and have only been getting beaten late on in most games."

Murdock hopes that inspirational Kiwi half-back Tane Manihera will return after injury forced him out of the last two games.

The news on injured second row Jamie Beaumont is better than first thought.

"Jamie injured his knee ligaments at Chorley and at first we thought it might be a cruciate, which would have ruled him out for nearly a year, but he is responding to treatment and may be back in the next three weeks," said Murdock.