Batley Bulldogs 22 Leigh Centurions 29 by Mike Hulme: LEIGH snatched the National League One Minor Premiership from under the noses of their closest rivals Whitehaven - but had one of their ex-favourites to thank for their success.

Clinging to a 23-22 lead and looking like losing with the clock ticking down, former Hilton Park second rower Sean Richardson came up with a real howler to present Oliver Wilkes with his second and match-clinching try.

Leigh had been pulled back from 23-6 to 23-22 when Barry Eaton missed by a whisker with a touchline conversion. From Neil Turley's deep re-start Richardson allowed the ball to roll between his legs then lost the ball as he tried to retrieve his mistake. Wilkes picked up and scored all in one motion and Turley added the extras to give Leigh the title on points difference.

Elated coach Darren Abram said: "You could say we rode our luck a bit but it was a tremendous effort by Oli (Wilkes) to keep chasing what should have been a lost cause.

"We've now achieved two of our targets in winning the Minor Premiership and Arriva Trains Cup. Now we've got to re-focus on the big one - winning the Grand Final."

But again Leigh's victory came at a cost with prolific try scorer Chris Percival carried off with a broken and dislocated ankle in the second half. He was operated on in Dewsbury and his season is now over.

Running down the slope in the first half Leigh opened up a commanding 21-0 lead with tries from Wilkes, Heath Cruckshank and Neil Turley with Turley adding four goals and field goal.

Leigh kept their tryline intact until the last minute of the first half when hooker Kris Lythe went over and Eaton added the goal.

Although they had the advantage of the elements and the slop in the second half, Batley's revival didn't really get underway until the final quarter.

By that time Turley had kicked another penalty for 23-6 but when Lythe crossed for his second try, Leigh were in trouble. They couldn't get out of their own half and became increasingly nervous as Batley chipped away at the lead.

Lythe's hat-trick try on 70 minutes cut the lead to 23-18 and when Danny Maun went in with six minutes left there looked to be only one winner. Luckily for Leigh Eaton's conversion attempt slipped the wrong side of the post and then Richardson came up with his match-clinching gaffe.