Whitehaven 31 Leigh 24 by Mike Hulme: DARREN Abram apologised to the Centurions fans after this opening day National League One defeat.

"They out-played us in every department," Abram admitted. "While I'm disappointed in our performance, the people I feel most sorry for are the 500 Leigh fans who battled their way up here through holiday traffic and then are subjected to a display like that.

"I'll be asking for a big improvement from the team in our next match. We owe the fans that at least."

Leigh, without the injured Tommy Martyn, led through a Chris Percival try and Neil Turley goal, but the lead lasted barely five minutes.

Oliver Wilkes missed a tackle and Paul O'Neil scored at the corner for Mick Nanyn to convert.

Wilkes' mistake was the first of many by Leigh and it wasn't long before 'Haven were ahead with a Brett McDermott try, again goaled by Nanyn. Turley and Nanyn exchanged penalties before Howard Hill seized on Paul Rowley's wayward pass and went unchallenged under the posts for another six-pointer.

Things went from bad to worse as sub Carl Sice slipped through for another converted try at the start of the second half to leave Leigh 26-8 down.

Two tries in three minutes, from Percival and Dave Alstead, plus one Turley conversion, gave Leigh a chance, but poor defensive work let Leigh down again and O'Neill went in for his second try.

Although Duffy put Wilkes over to again close the gap to six points, 'Haven kept their nerve and a Sice field goal in the last minute settled it.