Consistently inconsistent!

A game which had a distinct end of season feel to it, will have done little to satisfy those who, rightly, feel Leigh are currently under-achieving.

The credit side of the ledger showed that when it all falls into place, Leigh are one of the most potent attacking sides in the division. But on the debit side, they are still shipping ties for fun and won't go far unless they tighten up significantly.

And to compound the worries for head coach Paul Terzis there was the sight of his record-breaking full-back Neil Turley being shipped off to hospital with an ankle injury. Turley's loss is likely to be acutely felt over the Easter programme because, as Terzis pointed out: "We've lost a champion."

All-in-all it was a real mixed bag for Terzis and his coaching team. Ten tries scored, but six conceded, gave the game the feel of sevens tournament rather than a competitive game to round off the qualifying rounds of the Arriva Trains National Cup.

The opening 40 minutes followed the same depressing pattern as the shock defeat at Chorley the previous week, but after the break Leigh raised their game and scored 42 points at better than one a minute. But the three tries Leigh leaked in each half remain a worry, especially with Rochdale not having to work too hard to get them.

Terzis admitted: "Perhaps it was nature of the game, us already having qualified, that made us sloppy in defence. Rochdale were even worse than us in that department.

"Sixteen tries made for some great entertainment, but not necessarily for the coaches! Our defence wasn't poor all the time, at times it was good, but that was when our attitude was right.

"It was important to us to see what we could do in attack and get that cutting edge back in our game. I think we showed that in the second half."

Half-backs Pat Weisner and John Duffy, combining effectively with hooker Paul Rowley, ripped Hornets apart in the second period. Weisner and Duffy came into their own, supplying a whole range of defence-splitting passes while Rowley's darting runs from dummy half always had Hornets on the back foot.

With Dale Cardoza playing more sensibly than in recent weeks and Damian Munro coming off the bench to plunder two more tries, Leigh's outside backs had more ball than they knew what to do with - they didn't waste it with nine of Leigh's tries being chalked up by backs.

With nothing at stake for either side, neither defence came out smelling of roses.

Leigh's shortcomings were highlighted as early as the fourth minute when second rower Matt Leigh stretched through some flimsy tackling for the opening try.

Having lost Sonny Nickle after just eight minutes with a recurrence of his eye injury and seen Leroy Rivett go close twice, Leigh must have thought they were never going to make the breakthrough until skipper Adam Bristow took matters into his own hands, stepping back inside Hornet's sliding defence before throwing out a long right arm to touchdown.

But when Damian Ball and Sean Cooper each touched down in the space of four minutes Leigh went from 6-4 up to 12-6 down in the blinking of an eye. Thinks went from bad to worse when Leigh's midfield defence stood transfixed and allowed Jon Roper to burst straight up the middle and through to the posts to give Hornets an 18-6 lead.

Leigh began their recovery with two tries just before half time. Weisner carved out the first from nothing. His persistence in chasing down his own kick caught Hornets winger Cooper in two minds and before he'd time to blink, Cardoza had swept onto the loose ball and sailed away to the posts. Not long afterwards Duffy's short pass brought Munro back on the inside and Leigh's top scorer forced his way through for his 11th of the season.

Leigh overturned the 18-16 half time deficit when Rivett cleverly put Munro away down the right flank, the centre striding away for his 12th try of the campaign.

Having clawed their way into the lead, Leigh threw it away again when Roper's outside break ended with winger Lee Wilson getting in at the corner. Mick Nanyn's third goal put his side 24-22 up.

Turley's 52nd minute penalty signalled the start of an avalanche of Leigh points with Turley lighting up Hilton Park with a 10-minute hat-trick.

Rowley started the ball rolling thanks to Cardoza's alertness after he'd been hemmed in at the corner. Turley's first came from the best pass of the day from Duffy; Rowley and Duffy combined brilliantly for Turley's second and when Turley supported Weisner's break, Leigh had gone out to 46 points in a matter of minutes.

Hornets stemmed the flow with Andrew Wallace's try from close in but Leigh finished with a flourish in the final four minutes. A smart piece of improvisation saw Duffy chip over, regather and shoot between the posts before Willie Swann took Hornets's kick off and sprinted 60 metres to the corner.

SCORERS

Leigh: Tries - Turley (59, 64, 69), Munro (36, 42), Bristow (11), Cardoza (32), Rowley (56), Duffy (76), Swann (78).

Gls: Turley 7/9, Duffy 2/2.

Rochdale: Tries - Leigh (4), Ball (15), Cooper (19), Roper (29), Wilson (49), Wallace (67). Gls: Watson 0/2, Nanyn 3/4.

Penalties conceded: Leigh 8, Rochdale 5

Handling errors: Leigh 8, Rochdale 11.

Attendance: 1365

Referee: Richard Silverwood (Mirfield).

Man

rLEIGH'S mini marvels, Duffy, Weisner and Rowley, did the most to cement Leigh's victory after they first half wobbles. While Duffy and Weisner really shone late on, it was Rowley who carried Leigh forward when they needed it most.

Moan

rTHE sight of Neil Turley being carried off on a stretcher. Leigh havn't had much to shout about so far this season, but the scoring form of Turley has been one of them. A lengthy absence would be very damaging.

Magic

rTWO this week - but both from Duffy. There was his monster pass that put Turley in for his first try and then his cheeky chip, regather and dart for the posts to score a stunning individual effort late on.