for East

Leigh East 30

Ideal Isberg 0

LEIGH East moved another step closer to their target of a National Conference top five play-off place with Saturday's convincing win.

It wasn't a classic performance but coming towards the end of a high-pressure season, it was well engineered and vital.

Ideal, rooted in the bottom three, never stopped trying but they lacked the confidence of the East youngsters and never matched their hosts for speed or attacking flair.

The match was hardly memorable and for the first 20 minutes both sides just plodded along. Then scrum-half Martin Meadows set the game alight with an 80-metre interception try to give Chris Dootson an easy conversion.

Still the game failed to take off and East did not add to their score until a minute from half time when hooker John Taylor forced his way over. Dootson's second goal made it 12-0 at the break.

Seven minutes after the re-start a terrible mix-up in the Ideal defence gave Dootson the chance to link up from a scrum and cross for another six-pointer.

In the 54th minute Lee Penkywicz latched onto a loose pass to go 60 metres for another interception try. The best of the day came on the hour when slick handling along the line brought a try for Mark Kay. Dootson converted both tries to make it five from five.

East have a break this weekend before facing their toughest challenge, a trip to champions elect West Hull on Easter Saturday.