Championship preview: Halifax Panthers eyeing 'ugly or pretty' win over Swinton Lions to secure play-off spot

A below-par Fax outfit sealed a dramatic 23-22 victory over Keighley Cougars last weekend thanks to a last-gasp Louis Jouffret drop goal to push them into sixth.

And that is where they have remained going into the Championship’s final round of fixtures this weekend after Batley Bulldogs suffered their own late drop-goal heartache in a 15-14 defeat at York Knights on Monday.

That means the calculation is relatively straightforward for Grix’s men - beat a Swinton side, who will be fighting for a victory themselves in their bid to avoid relegation to League 1, to finish in the end-of-season extravaganza. If Swinton win, they need to hope Batley slipped up 24 hours earlier against Newcastle, and that York fail to beat Barrow on Sunday.

“We have just got to do our bit,” insisted Grix. “We have said for a while now that we just need to win our games and that’s what we need to do on Sunday.

“But we need to rectify some of the stuff against Keighley and put in a strong performance against Swinton in our last home game of the season. Swinton are a good team, they play a good brand.”

Asked if he could take more late drama like he experienced at Cougar Park last weekend, Grix responded:

“We’d still take it because we need the two points, whether it’s ugly or pretty. Everything else is irrelevant. It would be an easier, less stressful watch if we played half-smart and tidied our discipline up though.”

But Grix believes that, in an ideal world, all the Championship’s final round of fixtures should be played at the same time. He said:

“Ideally for everyone we’d all play at 3pm on Saturday or Sunday and everyone gets a look and they know where they are at straight away but it probably adds to the drama for the fans.

“It is what it is. It’s not in anyone’s control, it’s just the fixtures that were agreed and set in place a long time ago.”