2007 Season Reports: Pre-season Friendly: LEIGH 44 BLACKPOOL 16

Leigh Centurions 44
Blackpool Panthers 16
Dave Parkinson from Hilton Park

Blackpool Panthers suffered a setback in their preparations for the new season as they slipped to a 44-16 defeat against a young and enthusiastic Centurion team.

Head Coach Simon Knox was disappointed at the final whistle. “I was hoping to get a bit more out of today’s game.” He said, “To be honest it didn’t go the way that I wanted it to go. We gave a lot of penalties away, a lot of unforced errors, we missed a lot of tackles today and were actually given a lesson in enthusiasm by a young side that had a willingness to go out there and win. I was pretty gutted about the result today. While you don’t look for results in friendlies, I was upset with the way that we were beaten.”

There was no sign of what was to follow when good defence stopped the rapid Steve Brown from opening Blackpool’s account after 6 minutes. Rob Smyth put an opportunity down at the other end before Martin Ainscough showed a clean pair of heels in the 12th minute after an interception ten metres from his own line.

Further tries from Tom Woodcock and Craig Johnson and two Smyth goals made it 16-0 before the Panthers crossed for two tries in eight minutes. Phil Cantillon registered a trademark dummy half try before Martin Gambles touched down following the sort of side footed kick that any Premiership midfielder would have been proud of. Former Orrell RU fullback Chris Brand converted both before Dean Hatton sliced through the middle for Smyth to support on the arc and score out wide.

Blackpool made a terrible start to the second half when Cantillon was sinbinned for an offence at the play-the-ball. Leigh took advantage. Firstly, Liam Grundy sent John Boland over, and then Ainscough fed Linford Benjamin. Two more Ainscough tries after 58 and 67 minutes brought the stand-off a hat-trick and one goal from Hatton, gave the Centurions a winning advantage.

Cantillon raced clear for his second try after another fine run by Brown but Leigh had the final say when Stuart Goulding touched down a neat Ryan Powell kick for their 9th and final try.

GAMEBREAKER: Ainscough’s second try after 51 minutes. There was no way back from 28-12 down for the Panthers.

GAMESTAR: Martin Ainscough looked a cut above and showed both vision and anticipation to complete a hat-trick.

GAMESTATS:

Leigh Centurions
1. Rob Smyth
2. Craig Johnson
3. Adam Rudd
4. Tom Woodcock
5. Linford Benjamin
6. Martin Ainscough
7. Ryan Powell
8. Matt Astley
9. Liam Grundy
10. John Boland
11. Danny Jackson
12. Darryl Kay
13. Adam Thomas
Subs (All Used)
14. Stuart Goulding
15. Dean Hatton
16. Ian Mort
17. Tama Wakelin
Danny Meekin
John Cookson
Dan MacDonald

Tries: Ainscough (12, 58, 65), Woodcock (18), Johnson (23), Smyth (40), Boland (47), Benjamin (51), Goulding (80).

Goals: Smyth 2/5, Hatton 1/2, Goulding 1/2.

Blackpool Panthers
1. Chris Brand
2. Anton Garcia
3. Eddie Kilgannon
4. Steve Brown
5. Mark Leigh
6. Ryan Millington
7. Martin Gambles
8. Ian Parry
9. Phil Cantillon
10. Lee Rowley
11. Danny Barton
12. John Chamberlain
13. Deon Duell
Subs (all used)
14. Chris Ramsdale
15. Luke Murphin
16. Gareth Jones
17. Rob Lamb
Safraz Patel
Richard Rafferty
Daniel Palmer

Tries: Cantillon (27, 76), Gambles (35).
Goals: Brand 2/3.
Sinbin: Cantillon (45 – interference at play-the-ball)

Referee: Mr A Grundy
Penalties: 13-10
GLDO: 0-1
Half-time: 20-12

Attendance: 578

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match:

Leigh: Martin Ainscough.
Blackpool: Danny Barton.