2004 Season Reports: LEIGH 50 FEATHERSTONE 12

LEIGH CENTURIONS 50

FEATHERSTONE ROVERS 12
Dave Parkinson at The Coliseum

Leigh Centurions picked up their first LHF League One victory at the expense of beleaguered Featherstone who have now conceded 100 points in their opening two fixtures.

There was an air of defiance around Rovers coach Gary Price as he now looks to end a run of 4 consecutive defeats. “I’ll take time to assess my team’s performance over the next couple of days and we’ll move on.” He said.

Things began well for Featherstone and there was little sign of a big Leigh victory early on as Rovers experienced pack slugged it out with the Leigh set. Early exchanges were even with both sides putting big pressure on their respective field kickers. Ian Tonks and Stuart Dickens stood out for the visitors charging the ball in at regular intervals allowing an early foothold into the game for halfbacks Jon Presley and Carl Briggs.

It was Briggs who opened the scoring after 8 minutes with a penalty and Rovers’ lead lasted a further nine minutes before Tommy Martyn chased through an intelligent low kick from Dave McConnell to open the try scoring. Martyn again caused chaos in the Featherstone ranks on 21 minutes when his towering midfield bomb saw Neil Turley leap higher than opposite fullback Nathan Batty and substitute Simon Knox was in support to score under the posts.

From the restart Leigh were irresistible. Two drives set the platform for McConnell. He ran into space and handed onto the supporting John Duffy who drew the defence. A Featherstone hand seemingly saved the day but Andrew Isherwood took possession and dived in for a third Centurion score.

Trailing 16-2, Featherstone had to reply quickly and they did on 30 minutes when Briggs and Batty combined for winger Jamie Stokes to score out on the right. Rovers looked to have given themselves a lifeline but the excellent Steve Maden had other ideas as he broke from a tap penalty and sent the supporting Knox over for a second time. The easy conversion gave Leigh a useful 22-6 lead but the Centurions were far from finished.

A mistake at the start of the second half put Featherstone under pressure and their defence cracked again when Chris Percival scored from classic distribution by Martyn. Rovers reply came swiftly and Richard Newlove pulled a try back on 47 minutes. That only spurred the Centurions onto better things and four tries in eleven minutes killed the game and moved the Coliseum scoreboard to the half century for fifth time this season.

Radney Bowker, in at loose-forward for the injured Ian Knott crashed over after 52 minutes following a fine 30 metre burst down the wing from Maden. The former St Helens and Warrington threequarter grabbed the try his efforts richly deserved on 59 minutes. Leigh worked their way upfield with their next possession and a big 40-20 kick from Martyn created confusion in the visitors ranks. Bowker took advantage to race over the line for the Centurions 8th try.

Less than three minutes later Leigh wrapped up their scoring with the try of the game. Fielding a kick on his own 40 metre line Turley raced down the wing and the supporting Dave Alstead looked set to score before offloading for Maden to claim his second. Turley added his 7th goal and although there was a lot of spirit shown in the final quarter by Featherstone, Leigh’s defence stood firm.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do.” Victorious Leigh boss Darren Abram said afterwards. “I’m not happy with certain plays that we put on in attack and defence. We achieved a goal set before the game, not to concede more than 16 points. It’s back to winning ways after the hiccup last week and when you think of the three key injuries in our pack, yeah I’m very pleased with the players that have come in and stood up well. Dave McConnell had an excellent game– he showed some good stuff – good execution on passes and a couple of breaks.”


GAMEBREAKER: Steve Maden’s break from a tap penalty that created a second try for Simon Knox after 39 minutes. Featherstone were chasing the game afterwards.

GAMESTAR: Dave McConnell – The Scottish international had an assured game in the absence of regular hooker Rowley - having a hand in many of the Centurions best moves with crisp distribution.

CENTURIONS

1 Neil Turley
2 Steve Maden
3 Danny Halliwell
4 Chris Percival
5 Damian Munro
6 John Duffy
7 Tommy Martyn
8 Paul Norman
9 Dave McConnell
10 David Bradbury
11 Andrew Isherwood
12 Oliver Wilkes
13 Radney Bowker
Subs (all used)
14 Dan Potter
15 Simon Knox
16 Dave Alstead
17 Heath Cruckshank

Tries: Martyn (17), Knox (21, 39), Isherwood (24), Percival (41), Bowker (52, 60) Maden (59, 63).
Goals: Turley 7/9.
Sinbinned –
Sent-off –



Featherstone

1 Nathan Batty
2 Jamie Stokes
3 Steve Dooler
4 Richard Newlove
5 Matty Wray
6 Jon Presley
7 Carl Briggs
8 Ian Tonks
9 Paul Darley
10 Stuart Dickens
11 Neil Lowe
12 Richard Blakeway
13 Adam Hayes
Subs (all used)
14 James Ford
15 Bryan Henare
16 Andy Jarrett
17 Richard Chapman

Tries: Stokes (30), Newlove (47).
Goals: Briggs 2/3

Sinbinned –

Sent-off –


Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match

Leigh: Dave McConnell

Featherstone: Stuart Dickens

Penalty count: 12-17
Half-time: 22-6
Referee: Ronnie Laughton

Attendance: 1,790
Scoring sequence: 0-2, 4-2, 10-2, 16-2, 16-6, 22-6, 28-6, 28-12, 32-12, 38-12, 44-12, 50-12.