Workington Town 42 Leigh Centurions 10
By Dave Parkinson.
February 26th 1995 is a date many Leigh fans want to forget. Leigh had won a hard fought 34-22 victory at Swinton in the Challenge Cup and arrived at Derwent Park hoping to acquit themselves well against a Workington side in the top division.
Workington had other ideas, scoring 17 tries against a hapless Leigh defence that slumped to a club record 94-4 defeat.
May 9th 1999, finally saw Leigh gain some revenge with a comfortable 42-10 victory, their 10th league success of the season and fifth in succession (ironically including a 34-22 defeat of Swinton).
Workington made their intentions clear early on, putting pressure on the home line. They almost took the lead when former Whitehaven player-coach Colin Armstrong was held up over the line.
Leigh were lethargic in the opening quarter with far too many unforced errors keeping Workington in control.
Surprisingly Leigh were first to trouble the scoreboard with an opportunist try from Dave Ingram. He chipped over the defence and then took an awkward bounce to go over in the corner.
Graeme Close then had a chance to put Town on the board after an indescretion from Tim Street. Unfortunatey Close swung his penalty attempt wide and Leigh regained the initiative quickly.
Street turned from villain to hero in the 21st minute when he carved an opening in the defence before turning on the speed and putting supporting full-back Stuart Donlan over for a converted try.
This move seemed to lift Leigh's confidence and they were over again 8 minutes later when Andy Fairclough sent Cruckshank haring through a gap before the second row provided the pass for Ingram's 12th try of the season.
Paul Wingfield converted and added a 36th minute penalty after Donlan was held down.
Workington seemed content to wind the clock down but Leigh had other ideas and scored the try of the game just before the break. Substitute Paul Norman began the move on his own 40 metre line, offloading to Anthony Murray. He accelerated through a gap before handing on to Alan Hadcroft who evaded two tackles to go under the posts.
Leigh extended their lead to 30-0 six minutes after the restart when Keiron Purtill's grubber kick on the last tackle was pounced on by the impressive Donlan.
Town were reduced to 12 men a moment later when second-row Heaton was sent off for a high tackle on Donlan.
It was Town that responded however with an unconverted score from the hard working Close.
On the hour Leigh extended their lead to 36-4 when a quick tap penalty led to Murray squeezing through a two man tackle, just evading former London centre Cochrane.
Workington fought back gamely and were rewarded when hooker Jenkins fed Riley, who bulldozed over from close range.
Leigh had the final say when alert play on the left wing between Tau Liku, Murray, Hadcroft and James Arkwright exposed the defence and Murray took the scoring pass. Paul Wingfield added his 7th goal from the touchline and Leigh climbed to 2nd spot following Hull KR's shock 43-20 loss to Barrow.
Leigh Centurions : 42
Tries (minutes in brackets)
Ingram (11, 29), Donlan (21, 46), Hadcroft (39), Murray (60, 73)
Goals: Wingfield 7 (from 8 attempts).
defeated
Workington Town: 10
Tries (minutes in brackets)
Close (49), Riley (63)
Goals: Close 1 (from 3 attempts).
Attendance: 1484
Game Stars:
Leigh - Stuart Donlan = Full Back.
Workington - Graeme Close = Scrum Half.
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