THE Lions secured a second league win of the season with a superb victory over previous leaders Bude at Lux Park.

Liskeard-Looe welcomed back veteran key lineout forward, Yestin Hutchings, and also gave first starts to prop Ashley Evans and winger Josh Husband.

Within the first few minutes Bude opened the scoring with a try, coming off the back of a line-out, but the conversion was missed.

On 16 minutes Bude secured a second unconverted try, when No.8 Freddie Saxton broke off the back of a scrum, despite Liskeard putting in a concerted push to get the visiting pack going backwards.

The Lions lost players to injury early on with Evans (leg problem) replaced by Will Stuart, and Alex Kendall an issue with his arm, with Sean Simmons taking his place.

It looked as though the home side were going to have a torrid afternoon until the 30th minute when they scored a try, by flanker Andy Rowe, with Callum Beaver’s conversion making it 10-7.

There was to be further scoring before the half-time whistle, although Bude thought they had crossed the line in the 40th minute, only for the referee to chalk it off for a double movement.

At the ensuing penalty, Beaver tapped the ball and promptly kicked it into touch to close the first half.

After what had started with a torrid time for Liskeard, the Lions had got themselves back on terms, especially at scrum time which saw some superb work.

Just after half-time, Lions No.8 Adam Dack was replaced by James Swallow and this caused a minor change in the pack with Hutchings moving to the back of the scrum with Swallow going in at lock.

On 50 minutes the Seasiders were down to 14 men when one of their props was sent to the bin for a scrum offence when trying to nullify the threat by the dominating Lions pack.

On 56 minutes the referee awarded Liskeard a penalty try, the reason being persistent scrum offences by the visitors.

On the hour mark centre Will Cameron had to leave the field because of injury, this caused another reshuffle with Andy Rowe moving from flanker to cover at centre with Will Gouge coming on to take his place in the forwards.

But despite the changes, the Lions held on.

The result means that Bude drop to third with Liskeard moving up one place from eighth to seventh.

The man-of-the-match was awarded to Lions tighthead-prop Jack Wilton for a powerful scrummaging performance.

The view from the touchline was despite a lot of errors from both teams due to the blustery wind, it had been a good game to watch with the Lions being worthy winners.

The win and the four match points came about because of a combination of dominance at scrum time, good defence and some good team work.

The next fixture is this Saturday when Liskeard make the relatively short trip to Wadebridge Camels Seconds (3pm).

Any travelling support is always much appreciated.

LISKEARD-LOOE: McCarthy, Kendall, Naita, Cameron, Husband, Beaver, Mason; Evans, Badnall, Wilton, Warner, Hutchings, Rowe, Hoskin, Dack. Replacements: Simmons, Gouge, Stuart, Swallow.

Tries: Rowe, penalty try; Convs: Beaver; Pens: N/A.

Lions’ man-of-the-match: Jack Wilton.