2007 Season Reports: LEIGH 34 DONCASTER 14

LEIGH CENTURIONS 34
DONCASTER 14
Dave Parkinson at Hilton Park.

After their twelve try thrashing at Halifax, Leigh needed a win to confirm their place in the National League One play-offs.

Seven tries later it was mission accomplished but other than a hat-trick from Dave Alstead, two tries from Miles Greenwood and great work from the likes of Matt Astley, Mailangi Styles and Darryl Kay there was precious little for home supporters to get excited about.

“It was a win. We played okay in patches in the first half.” Leigh Football Manager Darren Shaw commented. “We lacked a lot of vision with the ball in hand and a lot of discipline, for example we only completed twelve sets in the second half. We let them back in the game to score fourteen points. I was happy with our width and lines of running to come up with ten points at the start but again we weren’t disciplined enough to stay there and do the same things. We seem to be doing a lot of tunnel vision play at the moment and until we get that out of our game then we won’t build any pressure on teams.”

In similar vein Dons boss John Stankevitch once again presided over an ill-disciplined performance with even genuine graft from the likes of long serving duo Craig Lawton and Peter Green and good link-up from Chris Forster, Andy Speake and Luke Gail failing to alter his stance.

“To be honest I thought the game was poor. It was probably one of the most boring games I’ve seen in a while. I’m a massive Rugby League fan but if I was a spectator I wouldn’t have enjoyed that game at all.”

“I’ve been critical of referees and some of the penalties that were getting awarded against both sides were just killing the game. It isn’t making it a fun game to play in or an enjoyable thing for the players to be involved in. Discipline has been a massive problem, it’s something that I’ve spoken about week in, week out and I’m starting to sound like a broken record. It comes down to when the players are on the field, they have to sort their own discipline out. At the end of the day they are not doing it; it’s just not good enough.”

Leigh opened scoring after four minutes when Anthony Stewart went over in the corner and the Centurions doubled that lead four minutes later when Damian Couturier kicked ahead for the ball to ricochet off legs allowing Greenwood to touch down.

Doncaster fell foul of referee Jamie Leahy for the first time after 12 minutes when former Leigh fullback Damian Munro was sinbinned for holding down. Although the Centurions failed to score, energy reserves where depleted and Mailangi Styles touched down from Aaron Heremaia’s 24th minute kick.

Munro then dragged the Dons back into contention with an angled run after smart work from Forster and Speake amid claims for obstruction. Although Gail couldn’t convert, Doncaster only trailed by twelve points.

Leigh then grabbed a decisive try on the stroke of half-time when Martin Ainscough threaded a kick behind Paul Anderson and Alstead added the first of his treble.

Early in the second period, the Centurions exerted their dominance with further tries from Greenwood and Alstead.

Speake then struck a massive 40-20 for Doncaster but when Forster threw an interception, Halliwell made good inroads. Three tackles later unselfish play from Couturier paved the way for Alstead to squeeze in at the corner for his hat-trick score.

As penalties began to spiral out of control for Doncaster, substitute Gary Richardson was first sinbinned for holding down, and then sent off within seconds for arguing the decision with the match official.

Instead of fading however, the Dons were galvanised and finished strongly when Forster snapped up a loose McConnell pass to race 90 metres for an interception score. Then with the final play of the game, the ball was kicked low and after Leroy Rivett couldn’t control the difficult bounce, Darren Woods swept in to ground at the corner. Forster goaled to complete the scoring and the final hooter confirmed relegation for the Dons and a fifth place finish for the Centurions.

GAMESTAR: ailangi Styles added much punch to the Leigh performance and the Doncaster defence often struggled to hold his destructive running.

GAMBREAKER: Had the sides gone to the break with just a twelve point gap, who knows what would have happened? The last try of the first half just gave Leigh the breathing space they needed.

GAMESTATS:

LEIGH CENTURIONS
1. Miles Greenwood
2. Leroy Rivett
3. Dave Alstead
4. Anthony Stewart
5. Danny Halliwell
6. Martin Ainscough
7. Aaron Heremaia
8. Matt Astley
9. Dave McConnell
10. Dana Wilson
11. Damian Couturier
12. Mailangi Styles
13. James Taylor
SUBS (ALL USED)
14. John Clough
15. Darryl Kay
16. Sean Richardson
17. Sebastian Martins

Tries: Stewart (4), Greenwood (8, 47), Styles (24), Alstead (40, 50, 57).
Goals: Couturier 2/4, Halliwell 1/2, Heremaia 0/1.

DONCASTER:
1. Damian Munro
2. Joe Brown
3. Paul Anderson
4. Lee Forth
5. Darren Woods
6. Chris Forster
7. Andy Speake
8. Tommy Hodgkinson
9. Luke Gale
10. Ayden Faar
11. Mark Castle
12. Craig Lawton
13. Shaun Leafe
SUBS (ALL USED)
14. Luke Burgess
15. Peter Green
16. Gary Richardson
17. Alex Benson

Tries: Munro (32), Forster (70), Woods (80).
Goals: Gale 0/2, Forster 1/1.
Sinbinned: Munro (12 – Holding down), Richardson (66 – Interference)
Sent-off: Richardson (66 – Dissent)

Referee: Mr Jamie Leahy
Penalties: 15-8
Attendance: 1,093
Half-time: 20-4

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men-of-the-Match:
Leigh: Mailangi Styles
Doncaster: Chris Forster