Match Reports about Leigh Centurions since 1998

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Friday 8 January 2010

1998 Season Reports: DEWSBURY RAMS 26 LEIGH CENTURIONS 18

Dewsbury Rams 26 - 18 Centurions

By Dave Parkinson

The inspirational Tim Street revealed both sides of his character in a seesaw tussle at Ram Stadium.

Easily the best forward on the field, the combative Street was sinbinned on 56 minutes, and then dismissed three minutes from the end.

Despite the loss of their club captain, Leigh and the returning Safraz Patel gave Dewsbury a real fright in the second half.

Patel, four games into his comeback following major shoulder surgery, added his usual measure of enthusiasm and produced some nice touches in his first top grade game since a pre-season friendly with Wigan.

Dewsbury made a solid start to the match and registered their first points when impressive Richard Agar followed a Barry Eaton kick that bamboozled Stuart Donlan and Paul Wingfield. Eaton missed the conversion but added a 19th minute penalty.

Defences were fierce with Tau Liku and Street topping the workload for Leigh and Rose and Shayne Williams doing the same for Dewsbury.

The Rams lead stretched to 12-0 after 23 minutes when former York player Damian Ball finished a crisp passing move on the left. When fullback Brendan Williams crossed on 31 minutes, it looked like another 50 point defeat was on the cards. Eaton increased Dewsbury's lead to 20 points with another penalty four minutes from the break.

This seemed to spark Leigh into action as John Gunning and James Arkwright worked a run-around before Arkwright's half break put Anthony Murray in the clear. Rams winger Bailey chased back, hauling Murray down a metre short of the line and forcing him to lose possession.

Leigh were not finished and after a sustained spell of pressure Arkwright and Gunning created the gap for Donlan to dive over by the posts. Paul Wingfield converted and Leigh finished the half 6-20 behind.

Dewsbury took advantage of Leigh's sluggish start to the second half when fullback Williams added his second try after just 4 minutes.

The Rams should have extended their lead two minutes later when Bailey was held up over the line. A concerted spell of pressure resulted in 18 consecutive tackles for the Rams before Andy Fairclough's timely interception.

Street's yellow card came after a high tackle. This seemed to have a positive effect as replacements Nick Jenkins, Patel and Phil Kendrick started to impose themselves on the game.

Patel was instrumental in the next Leigh try as his cut out pass put Kendrick into a yawning hole for the ex Widnes back to speed through from 30 metres for the score.

Leigh were defiant as Dewsbury tried to make the extra man count. Bailey was denied a certain score by a forward pass and Eaton was brought to ground just short.

Tim Street's return again gave Leigh impetus as Andy Fairclough took a quick tap penalty. This saw the centre brush aside two attempted tackles in a fifteen metre charge. The Centurions continued to press but were reduced to 12 men when Street was sent off for dissent after receiving a high looking tackle.

Still the Centurions refused to buckle and they scored a disputed try two minutes from time to Fairclough. This was not quite enough for victory as the Rams clinical first half performance created the backbone to a 26-18 victory.

Although defeated, Leigh fans were optimistic after this battling performance gave further indication that the Centurions had finally started to come to terms with life in Division One.

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