2008 Season Reports: LEIGH CENTURIONS 18 BATLEY BULLDOGS 17

LEIGH CENTURIONS 18 BATLEY BULLDOGS 17
DAVE PARKINSON at Hilton Park

“I do not understand how we lost that game.” Batley coach Gary Thornton after seeing his Bulldogs side edged out in a game decided by an Ian Watson penalty two minutes from the end of normal time.

“We had chances in the first half but didn’t take them. With the pace we now have on the wings I thought we were by far the better side in the first half.”

Few people at Hilton Park would disagree as to be frank after a solid opening few minutes from the Leigh Centurions, Batley dominated.

Recent history suggested the game would be close but the Centurions chose to ignore the warning signs after racing into an early 4-0 lead.

That came when Watson fired the ball along the line and Ian Mort went clean through the defence from ten metres. The halfback then missed the goal but all looked comfortable as Batley struggled to find distance with their kicks in the face of a strong breeze until a spark of inspiration, coupled with a Leigh appeal for an infringement, gave the opportunity for speedy John Campbell to undo the Centurions central defence and race through from 30 metres. Kevin King converted but better was to follow for the Bulldogs as their halfback Paul Mennell was given the freedom of Leigh as he skipped, bobbed and bedazzled his way past several defenders before running around Mort for Batley’s second try.

The dose was repeated after 26 minutes when Kevin Crouthers and on-loan Aaron Murphy cut loose down the Bulldogs left and Mennell streamed up in support to cross for his 10th try of a productive season. Trailing 16-4, things threatened to get worse for the Centurions as speedmen Jermaine McGilvary, Ian Preece, Campbell and Murphy created all kinds of problems. Mark Barlow spilled a glorious opportunity following Murphy’s incisive running and Lythe was brought back for a forward pass. Somehow, the scoreline remained the same until the break and with the words of Neil Kelly ringing in their ears, the Centurions set about their second half business in far more constructive manner.

“Sometimes you have to talk to the team more directly than others.” Summarised Kelly, “every now and again you have to point out that rugby is a contact sport and you can’t tackle at arms length and we were doing that too often in the first half. We rectified that in the second half but I’m not totally happy.”

Several early penalties swung possession in Leigh’s favour and after starving the Bulldogs of the ball points looked likely to follow before Lee Doran spilled a pass. Eventually, the Centurions did make things count when Watson found the lurking Adam Higson and he blasted through an attempted tackle from Barlow to score.

McGilvary then twice showed his pace to race from one end of the field to the other before both times being hauled down by Higson and Mort. Such were the impacts, particularly of Higson that mistakes were forced on the loan man from Huddersfield.

Those tackles galvanised the Centurion effort and they stormed down field on the back of some impressive work from James Taylor, Dave McConnell, Aaron Smith and Mike Morrison before Watson floated a kick to Dave Alstead. Alstead then had piece of mind to ship the ball inside and Tony Stewart was there to ground only his second try of the season. Watson tied the game with his conversion and although the Bulldogs lost Lythe to the sinbin for effecting a tackle from a deliberate offside position, Mennell thought he’d clinched the points with a 77th minute field-goal.

Leigh had other ideas. A short restart was blown back over the 40 metre line and Leigh took possession before the Bulldogs were caught offside at the next play.

Watson placed the ball 32 metres from the posts and coolly slotted the penalty home to secure a victory that lifts Leigh to 4th in the National League One standings.

“We said it on the touchline that he (Higson) played a part in the significant moments for ourselves, stopping two tries and scoring another.” Kelly said “From our point of view he’s played a big hand in winning us the game. I’ve used the get out of jail free card today and you only get one in the game of monopoly. We can’t afford to use one of those against Widnes, Salford or Celtic. I’ve got to take some responsibility for today. Maybe I’ve left our middle underdone. I wanted to go for mobility. I look at the scoreboard and it says 18-17 but it feels like a defeat. If Batley had taken all their chances they would have won.”

GAMEBREAKER: Ian Watson’s 78th minute penalty after the Bulldogs had been caught offside following a short restart.

GAMESTAR: Adam Higson – the 21 year old belied his youth to shine for the Centurions with a try and two startling chase downs on the impressive Jermaine McGilvray

CENTURIONS
1 Ian Mort
2 Dave Alstead
3 Tom Woodcock
4 Mark Roberts
5 Steve Maden
6 Ryan Powell
7 Ian Watson
8 Mike Morrison
9 Dave McConnell
10 Gareth Price
11 Adam Higson
12 Lee Doran
13 Aaron Smith
Subs (all used)
14 Dean Hatton
15 Tony Stewart
16 James Taylor
17 John Hill

Tries: Mort (4), Higson (52), Stewart (69)
Goals: Watson 3/4
Field goal:
On Report: (TIME) – offence
Sin bin: (TIME) – offence
Dismissal: (TIME) – offence

BULLDOGS
1 Ian Preece
2 Jermaine McGilvary
3 Kevin King
4 Aaron Murphy
5 John Campbell
6 Mark Barlow
7 Paul Mennell
8 Luke Stenchion
9 Kris Lythe
11 Byron Smith
10 Kevin Crouthers
12 Tim Spears
13 Andrew Boothroyd
Subs (all used)
21 Ash Lindsay
15 Jamie Archibald
16 Anthony Henderson
17 Jon Simpson

Tries: Campbell (10), Mennell (22, 26)
Goals: King 2/3
Field goal: Mennell (77)
On Report: (TIME) – offence
Sin bin: (74) – Kris Lythe – deliberate offside
Dismissal: (TIME) – offence

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Centurions: Adam Higson
Bulldogs: Jermaine McGilvary

Penalty count: 16-6
Half-time: 4-16
Referee: Thierry Alibert
Attendance: 1,601

SCORING SEQUENCE:
4-0, 4-6, 4-10, 4-16; 10-16, 16-16, 16-17, 18-17