Whitehaven staged a fine recovery to record a vital victory at Swinton as the battle to avoid the drop in the Championship intensifies.
They had been 14-6 adrift at half time and 20-10 midway through the second-half but staged fine finish to snatch a 22-20 win to pull level on points with their rivals.
Swinton had taken the lead after seven minutes when Jake Maizen fumbled a kick through and Jordy Gibson followed-up to collect and go over for the try, which former Haven full-back converted.
Soon afterwards they were awarded a penalty 30 metres and bang in front so Abram took the opportunity to add two more points to the lead.
It got worse for the Cumbrians on 22 minutes when they conceded again after heavy pressure and a goal-line drop-out. Mitch Cox sent Lewis Hall striding over under the posts for Abram to convert.
So to come back from 14-0 down and not get in front until ten minutes from the end, before holding onto the lead to claim the points, was a major effort from Whitehaven who have been subject to some alarming collapses of late.
They had been under a lot of pressure in the first half an hour but when they did eventually raise the siege Lachlan Hanneghan danced through some tackles to score a fine try which Jake Carter converted.
Haven were pressing again on the Swinton line when a dropped pass prevented them from adding to the first half tally.
There was a great start to the second half for Haven when they scored a try within two minutes. They were awarded a penalty for obstruction and when they moved the ball swiftly to the wing debutant Neil Tchamambe went over for the try but Carter couldn’t convert.
On the hour Swinton scored again. Gibson put in a long kick for the Haven line and the foot race was won by Hatton and Abram converted for ten-point lead.
After holding out under strong Swinton pressure Whitehaven finally put some yardage together and Maizen cuty through the middle before sending Carter in for the try which he converted.
It was now anybody’s game and two minutes later Haven took the lead for the first time.
There was a fumble near the Swinton line and Will Evans reacted quickest to pounce and score. Carter added the conversion for a two-point lead which they held until the end, despite having Ryan King sin-binned for the last five minutes.
