Doncaster Dragons 19 Leigh Centurions 14 by Mike Hulme: IF Darren Abram believed he'd put together a squad capable of taking Leigh into the Promised Land, he's probably having second thoughts this week.

Last Sunday was a perfect opportunity for some of his fringe players to stake a real claim for a regular jersey. After this shocker some of them might not get the chance again.

Credit to Abram, he didn't try to hide behind a long injury list as an excuse. He shot straight from the lip, blaming his forwards for a poor first half in which Doncaster were handed a 14-0 lead before rounding on his half-backs for not creating more when Leigh had the territorial advantage in the second half.

Belle Vue can be a pretty intimidating place to go at the best of times but to go without the creative heart of the team was a big ask.

No Turley, Duffy, Martyn or Knott - four major players missing from the spine of the team. No leading scorer Percival, losing Cruckshank with concussion inside 12 minutes and playing the entire 80 minutes in a tropical downpour. Everything conspired against Leigh.

But despite those mitigating circumstances, Leigh were there own worst enemies. Doncaster didn't win this game, the inescapable fact is that Leigh lost it.

Leigh's overall completion rate was poor, even allowing for a wet ball; their kicking game was more hit and hope; one-on-one tackles were missed but their biggest failing was not having enough creativity to pinch a winning score when the Dragons were trapped in their own '22' for almost the entire final quarter.

If that was their shortcoming at the end of the game, their failing at the start of the game was their inability to contain a 38-year-old prop forward with a dodgy knee.

Andy Fisher, one-time player/coach of Dewsbury, damaged one or two reputations as he belted the Leigh pack in the first quarter.

"We'd spoken during the week about the go-forward Fisher gives them," said Abram. "But he ruined us in the first 20 minutes. He ran over the top of every front rower I put out there. With Holroyd dictating play out wide, they came up with a couple of tries and we had our backs to the wall.

"We might have dominated territorially in the second half but we played dumb and didn't ask them too many questions. My half backs let us down in the second half by

not creating anything from all the ball we had. The forwards let me down in the first half and the half backs in the second.

"We've got to go away and look at ourselves. Other teams raise their game against us so we've got to learn to player tougher and play smarter."

All the indications were evident early on that Leigh were in for an uncomfortable afternoon. Fisher's good yardage and ability to slip a pass or two had Leigh on the back foot. When Holroyd held off Swann's attempted tackle to slide in for a sixth minute try, Leigh's body language wasn't good.

Holroyd had a faultless afternoon with the boot and two penalty strikes in five minutes extended Doncaster's lead to 8-0.

Things went from bad to worse when Doncaster won a repeat set on Leigh's line and PJ Solomon wriggled over from dummy half for a try converted by Holroyd.

Full-back Steve Maden, one of the few Leigh players to play to anything like full potential, saved another six points when he chopped Holroyd down right on the line as Leigh went close to falling even further behind.

Four minutes from half time Leigh managed to throw themselves a bit of lifeline when an attempted interception by Craig Horne led to Dan Potter sliding in out wide to make it 4-14.

There were genuine hopes of a winning fightback at the start of the second half when Andrew Isherwood's break, supported by Wilkes, Knox and Larder, brought a try at the flag for Smyth. But Smyth's kicking was nowhere near as accurate as the absent Turley's and he only managed one from four. That came from a penalty directly in front of the posts and brought Leigh back to within four points.

But the benefit of having a regular kicker was underlined in quick succession as Holroyd put over a penalty and a field goal to give his side an important seven-point cushion.

Twelve minutes from time Leigh began to scent an unlikely victory when the cashed in on a series of dropped Doncaster passes to score out wide through Maden.

In a furious closing few minutes Wilkes went on report for a high shot on Woodcock and Holroyd put over another long range penalty to leave Leigh needed a converted try to nick it.

As Abram pointed out later, Leigh had enough possession in the right area to score. What they didn't have was the execution to go with it.

Scorers: Doncaster - Tries: Holroyd, Solomon. Gls: Holroyd 5/5, Holroyd fg.

Leigh - Tries: Potter, Smyth, Maden. Gls: Smyth 1/4.

Doncaster: Woodcock; Colton, Horne, Solomon, Billy; Holroyd, Leaf; Matt Walker, Cook, Fisher, Ostler, Green, Lawton. Subs (all used): Stannard, James Walker, Hogg and Muff.

Leigh: Maden; Smyth, Potter, Halliwell, Munro; Bowker, Swann; Marshall, Rowley, Cruckshank, Larder, Wilkes, McConnell. Subs (all used): Alstead, Isherwood, Knox, Norman.

Handling errors: Leigh 13, Doncaster 16.

Penalties conceded: Leigh 13, Doncaster 8.

On report: Wilkes (Leigh) - high tackle 70 mins.

Half time 4-14

Full time 14-19.

Referee: Ashley Klein (London).

Attendance: 1140.

Man

rFOR a second successive week not a match Leigh will look back on with pride. Dave Larder got through his customary ton of work but one of the few dangerous players with ball in hand was Steve Maden. If anyone looked like snatching a win, it was him.

Moan

rNO-ONE with the creativity to find just one gap against a leg-weary defence that might have saved Leigh's bacon.

Magic

rMADEN'S try 12 minutes from time which gave Leigh the chance to win a game they probably had no right to.