Match Reports about Leigh Centurions since 1998

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Thursday 7 January 2010

2003 Season Reports: SWINTON 10 LEIGH 24

Leigh maintain 100% Arriva Trains Cup form
SWINTON 10 LEIGH CENTURIONS 24
By Dave Parkinson.


With two games gone of the Arriva Trains Cup, Leigh Centurions are unbeaten. The Centurions held off a spirited challenge from one of last season's whipping boys to win 24-10 at the Lions new Moor Lane home. The undoubted highlight of the game was an explosive hat-trick from Dale Cardoza who thrilled the Leigh support in a 950 crowd with a display of strong finishing.

The game was far from a classic but the way the Leigh team worked for the victory pleased boss Paul Terzis, "I'm happy with the result." He said.

"I thought we showed a lot of patience out there and our defence was outstanding. Wasn't it great to see Dale Cardoza cross the line? That's why we chased so hard to bring him to the club last season. A lot of credit has to go to Swinton, they came at us from the start and will certainly be challenging for the National League 2 title."

The hosts began the game positively and were unlucky when incisive play down the left was brought back for a forward pass just as Jason Roach thought he'd added another try to his career tally. Following the lead of former Leigh prop Simon Knox, the Lions tested Leigh and the visitors defence worked overtime to keep Swinton at bay.

Damian Munro then thought he'd opened the scoring for Leigh but again the move was denied by the intervention of a touchjudge.

Finally the Centurions did hit the front, and what a try it was too! On the last tackle zipped the ball from one side of the field to the other in a fourteen pass movement that finished with Munro dashing over in the corner. Marksman John Duffy couldn't find his sights and back came Swinton when Craig Wingfield was awarded a penalty try after having the ball ripped from his grasp over the line. Smith converted and the Lions held a slender advantage.

Moments from the break Leigh showed their class again when a long ball from substitute Dave Bradbury found Phil Kendrick and in turn the long serving centre or second row found Cardoza running the angle for his first score. Duffy added the difficult conversion and Leigh went in at half-time with a 10-6 advantage.

The second-half began badly for Leigh when Michael Watts blemished an otherwise fine game with a knock on at the play-the-ball. Further Leigh mistakes continued to hand good field position to the hosts and eventually it told when a low kick was stabbed through. In the lottery that followed Hugh Thorpe collected and dived in to level the scores.

Finally the Centurions settled down and added a trademark try from Cardoza after good work from Pat Weisner and Duffy. Again the kick fell short but Duffy was on target with a penalty following a smart bit of footwork from his half-back partner.

As Swinton began to tire, Leigh's class told and Cardoza completed his hat-trick in support of a fine run by former Lion Dale Holdstock, and just before the end Holdstock was again pressed into action. His inside ball found Paul Rowley and Cardoza but the centre flicked the ball wide for debutant Leroy Rivett to cap a solid first game with a try.


MOM - Michael Watts - tireless runner from full-back.

LEIGH: Watts, Andrews, Munro, Cardoza, Rivett, Weisner, Duffy, Nickle, Rowley, Ball, Richardson, Holdstock, Bristow; Kendrick, Sanderson, Hamilton, Bradbury.

Tries: Cardoza (3), Munro (1), Rivett (1)
Goals: Duffy 2/4, Sanderson 0/2.

SWINTON
Tries: Craig Wingfield, Hugh Thorpe.
Goals: Smith 1/2.

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