West Bowling 34 Leigh East 10: LEIGH East's away form continues to be of concern as they suffered another heavy defeat in the Arriva Trains Conference Premier Division.

Yet it is safe to say that this was a match which could have been won.

The conditions were perfect for East's pace and style of play; West Bowling were a big, powerful set but for skill would never have matched an East side playing to its potential.

East even scored the best try of the match - to go a step further, the best try they had seen in seasons in the words of some West Bowling officials.

But again the Leigh side was its own worst enemy. They made countless mistakes, they missed tackles, conceded penalties - mainly for silly technical offences - and failed to take four, if not more, try scoring chances. Three times the ball was lost over the line, although on one occasion it was hawked out of Kilshaw's hands by the defence. Twice more poor finishing potentially cost tries.

East were in trouble as early as the first minute when a penalty in the home 25 ended with a try at the other end. But things seemed promising when East went ahead with a magnificent try three minutes later. Whiteside released the ball in a tackle almost on his own line and it went through six pairs of hands before Marsden sent Mark Kay over under the posts, Woods adding the goal.

By half time however East trailed 22-6. The game had swung from end to end but unfortunately for East, West Bowling, given far too much respect by their opponents, were the ones doing all the scoring while the Leigh side had to wait until seven minutes into the second half before they added to their score.

Both John Gunning and Danny Kilshaw can read a game well and when Gunning kicked through and collected his half back partner was on his heels to take the pass and score. It should have been the signal for a fightback; but in stead more mistakes and more missed chances led to nothing more than two more converted tries for the home side.

Amidst the gloom was the outstanding performance by Liam Rowson who defended and ran the ball out well and who never once let his side down. Ian Lewis was totally committed when he came on as substitute and props Whiteside and Southworth tackled well.