Leigh Centurions 18 Rochdale Hornets 44 by Martyn Hindley: CENTURIONS coach Darren Abram felt as though he had hit rock bottom after Rochdale Hornets caused one of the upsets of the season at The Coliseum.
Former Centurion Bobbie Goulding made a sensational return as Rochdale coach, guiding his current club to a thumping win.
Leigh's eight-match winning streak came to an abrupt and comprehensive end as second-from-bottom Dale ran in four tries in each half to stun the league leaders.
Abram said: "I'm at the lowest point of my coaching career.
"We knew what Rochdale would do and they did it. I just can't highlight where we went wrong. Our lads just weren't at the races, but that's not to take anything away from Rochdale because they competed their sets well and dominated the ruck."
Rochdale went ahead in the tenth minute, when Liam McGovern sent Kevin Picton over by the right touchline.
The visitors then unveiled the grubber kick that proved Leigh's undoing.
John Braddish followed up his own neat kick on the last tackle to touch down after Ben Cooper had fumbled.
And then David Newton was first to reach Tommy Hodgkinson's daisycutter to collect four points.
Centurions were stunned when Janan Billings' basketball-style offload resulted in some ankle pinball off Andrew Gorski and Neil Turley, before Liam Williams latched on to the loose ball to score -- and send Leigh in 20-0 down at half-time.
The expected Leigh fightback never materialised. By the time that Dave Larder scored for them, Liam Radcliffe had bagged a quickfire double to put the visitors out of sight. Gareth Price and McGovern added further tries for Rochdale.
Turley's sidestep to score and Tommy Martyn's effort beneath the posts gave Leigh respectability rather than hope.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article