LEIGH RU threw away a dominant position against old rivals Widnes in the most disappointing of second half performances.

Leigh started superbly. They weathered early pressure from the home team with some solid defence and then worked their way upfield with a series of rolling mauls. The first time the ball moved wide, centre Wilcock raced into the corner to open the scoring.

Leigh were now totally dominant and pinned Widnes back with a series of forward drives before prop Bailey plunged in by the posts for Fisher to convert. Leigh continued to control the game but failed to add to the score when Fisher missed an easy penalty.

They were made to pay dearly for these lapses as Widnes centre Riley raced to the posts to bring Widnes back into contention at the interval.

The second half was a complete transformation as Leigh failed to maintain their form. Players began to make mistakes and the Widnes back line capitalised with a try wide out by winger O'Connor.

A series of refereeing decisions then went against the visitors which culminated in the vital score for Widnes when Leigh failed to control a scummage ball under their own posts and Widnes half back Lamb gained the all important touchdown for Welsh to convert.

Leigh strove manfully for the winning score but had lost their momentum from the first half.

Despite the defeat there were good performances from Hampson, Wood and Sutton in the forwards and a calm display from Fisher at stand-off. Leigh must now look for a more consistent performance over the 80 minutes in order to win the league points now needed.

Leigh 2nd XV 26 Sandbach 18

Leigh came out on top in this tough league encounter with a strong Sandbach side.

Sandbach started the quicker as their more experienced and bigger pack took control of the scrum. Leigh were put under pressure early on when the Sandbach pack turned over the Leigh ball to enable their scrum half to score wide out. Sandbach increased their lead with a well taken penalty to make the score 8-0 in their favour.

Leigh could not get into the game despite good lineout ball from McKinstry with the ball often going to ground as Leigh seemed to panic as they tried to bridge the gap. A couple of chances went begging just before half time as Leigh put Sandbach under a tremendous amount of pressure.

Leigh started the second half well as the more experienced players of Tustin, Pilkington and Billinge stepped up a gear. A good rolling maul where Leigh gained 20 metres gave Leigh the field position to get their first score on the board. From the resulting scrum McKinstry broke clear to score from 40 yards out. Andrews converted to make the score 8-7.

With Leigh well on top, debutant Mark Lester showed his brother how its done to break three tackles to score under the posts. Andrews again converted to finally put Leigh in front 14-8.

Sandbach came back well and after a neat move scored under the posts. This try was converted and a penalty soon after put Sandbach into the lead once again 18-14.

Leigh have now become a difficult side to beat as they proved once again by coming from behind. A big tackle from scrum half Billinge allowed winger Baines to pounce on a loose ball to sprint clear and score under the posts. Sale converted to put Leigh ahead again.

Leigh finally finished the game off with a dazzling solo try by Billinge.

Crewe 22 Leigh 3rd 12

Leigh arrived late, and with a severely depleted side, were immediately on the back foot against a strong second string side.

Poor organisation in defence lead to them going two tries down in the first half before a chip and chase allowed Davies to gather and score an unconverted try to close the gap to 10-5 at half time.

The second half became a forwards dominated affair as Crewe and Nantwich added considerable size to their pack with four substitutions and scored almost immediately.

Leigh, however, battled hard and scored a converted try wide out to reduce the deficit to 15-12. A penalty was then missed that would have tied the scores, and with Leigh heads down, the much heavier Crewe pack rolled a maul over the Leigh line to conclude the scoring and make it a disappointing day for the Hawks.

Leigh Colts 24 Ashton 12

Leigh returned to winning ways with a dominant performance against near neighbours. They defended early pressure by the visitors before Thomas Andrews latched onto a forward drive and raced 70m to the posts, which he also converted.

Leigh continued to dominate and gained further tries from Lee Davis and Shaun Battersby to lead 19-0 at the interval, having played into a strong wind.

The visitors came back in the second half with two tries of their own but Leigh were never really threatened as they eased further in front with a try from Michael Murray .

There were strong performances from Danny Hurst, Lee Davies and Dean Kendall in the forwards with Michael Eccles and Thomas Andrews in control in the back division. Ryan Barker marked his return with a competent display at full back.

Leigh U15s 31 Orrell 7

A subdued performance from Leigh still proved too strong for a lively Orrell side. Knapman scored Leigh's first and Bond then forced his way over. Knapman then scored the try of the match after good handling through the backs.

Orrell hit back with a converted try after half-time, but Bond again showed good technique to power over and Parrot scored on his debut. Pendlebury added two conversions and Rushworth one in a game where Leigh never hit top gear.

Leigh U14s 25 Tyldesley 20

Leigh were slow out of the blocks as Tyldesley took the lead in the second minute with a penalty and they then pushed further ahead with an unconverted try. Leigh then came into the game and started to exert pressure on the visitors resulting in a try for Ben Davies followed by a try by Stafford. Leigh were cruising into half-time until Tyldesley broke away to score a converted try to give them a 15-10 lead.

The teams were closely matched and Leigh were next on the score-sheet when slick handling led to Casper scoring in the corner. This was followed by a try by Fiendley, but Tyldesley were not going to surrender easily and came back strongly to level the scores with five minutes to go. Leighs forwards had a period of sustained pressure which resulted in Boyle crashing over for a deserved try to give Leigh the lead.

Eccles U7s/8s 35 Leigh 50

Leigh's youngsters, due to Eccles shortages, fielded a joint under 7's and under 8's side, which eventually overcame a large, robust and well coached outfit.

Poor Leigh defence let the home team in for several soft tries which gave the home team a respectable result.

Probing attacking skills from Carney, (A) Smith, Modlinsky and Hewittson provided tries for Whittingham 2, Jones 1, McLoughlin 1, Roddy 1, Lythgoe 2 and Michael O'Dwyer scoring a deserved hat-trick. Top Try Scorer was Michael O' Dwyer, Top Tagger was Jade Modlinsky and Man of the Match was Alexandra Whittingham.