2003 Season Reports: LEIGH 12 SALFORD 32

22nd June

Centurions lose to Reds in top of table battle

LEIGH CENTURIONS 12 SALFORD CITY REDS 32
By Dave Parkinson

The much anticipated National League One game between Leigh Centurions and Salford City Reds started with fireworks and a buzz around the ground when new player-assistant coach Tommy Martyn was introduced to the crowd but it was the Reds who provided the spark on the pitch, racing into a 20-0 lead.

The first quarter belonged to the Reds after a tentative opening saw mistakes aplenty by the two teams and a disallowed try from John Duffy. Salford scored their first try in the 11th minute when Cliff Beverley supported a break in centre-field to finish under the posts.

Things began to look ominous for the Centurions when Gavin Clinch threw a long pass that created a break over on the Leigh right and then scampered over in support of former Leigh second-rower Simon Baldwin. Chris Charles converted before Clinch was the architect of another score, this time Alan Hunte raced over from 40 metres.

Referee Colin Morris then made a contentious decision awarding a try to Danny Arnold after Damian Munro tried to keep the ball in play from a Clinch switch kick. Charles missed with the conversion and Leigh eventually registered their first points five minutes later.

A good kick down-field was fielded but an obstruction by Baldwin handed the initiative to the Centurions. Willie Swann took the tap and found Bristow who dragged in Beverley and Hunte before turning the ball inside for Sean Richardson to score. Pat Weisner converted and Leigh put themselves in with a chance on the stroke of halftime thanks to a 45 metre interception try from Damian Munro. Again Weisner converted and Leigh trailed 20-12 at the interval.

Leigh needed to start brightly and they did with several offloads and good running from Bryan Henare, Willie Swann and David Bradbury. The appearance of Lee Sanderson also saw early impetus but this was soon lost when instead of building pressure, Leigh tried to score from every other play. The result was a lot of lost ball and Salford were able to wear their opponents down.

Mr Morris was soon centre of attention again penalising Leigh twice in the space of five minutes for late challenges on Gavin Clinch, one of which saw the ever effective Sonny Nickle placed on report. Salford were unlikely to turn down such gifts and Charles tagged another four points to the visitors tally before another penalty on 62 minutes from Steve Blakeley put 14 points between the sides.

Leigh struggled to gain possession and when they did, compounded matters with a handling error but to their credit they continued to try hard. Salford scored their final try 13 minutes from the end when Clinch put a kick in that deflected off Henare's thigh into the path of Jason Flowers for the fullback to score, Blakeley again added the extras. Had Salford not thrown two forward passes they could have added further tries from Arnold and Mick Berne, while at the other end more sure handling could have seen Dale Holdstock grab a consolation.


Man-of-the-Match: Top defensive efforts from second rowers Bryan Henare and Sean Richardson made Man-of-the-Match a close run thing but the best display came from David Bradbury who really took the game to the Reds, well supported by fellow bench player Lee Sanderson.

Teams:
Leigh: Alstead, Munro, Hadcroft, Kendrick, Watts; Weisner, Swann; Nickle, Duffy, Norman, Richardson, Henare, Bristow; Ball, Sanderson, Holdstock, Bradbury.

Salford: Flowers, Arnold, Littler, Hunte, Berne; Beverley, Clinch; Baines, Alker, Coley, Baldwin, P. Highton, Charles; Blakeley, D. Highton, Kirk, Haggerty.

Scorers:
(Minutes in Brackets)
Leigh Tries: Richardson 1 (31), Munro 1 (38).
Leigh Goals: Weisner 2/2.

Salford Tries: Beverley 1 (11), Clinch 1 (17), Hunte 1 (21), Arnold 1 (26), Flowers 1 (67).
Salford Goals: Charles 4/6, Blakeley 2/2.

Attendance: 4,000.