IN their first warm up match to prepare for the new season Chorley Lynx went down to a narrow two point defeat at the hands of Widnes Vikings Under 21s in a pre-season friendly at Victory Park.

Lynx looked to have secured an excellent victory but were foiled right on the final hooter with a converted try which gave the Super League outfit youngsters a narrow victory.

Lynx coach Mark Lee said the performance was more important to him than the result and admitted he would use the forthcoming Arriva Cup matches to assess the quality of his squad.

He said: "It was a good workout against a talented outfit and it was only a couple of errors that cost us victory.

"I was without seven players through injury or suspension but the result does not matter at this stage as I was looking for the team to gel especially as regards our completion rate.

"Gareth Jones was awesome at prop and was by far the man of the match and there was plenty of enthusiasm from the rest of the team.

"I will use the Arriva Cup games to see who my best 17 players are so that we will be ready for the start of the league season with a settled side."

Lynx's first competitive match is at Oldham on February 1 in the Arriva Trains Cup.

Other teams in their group are Barrow Raiders, Leigh Centurions and Swinton Lions. Each team plays each other once at home and away.