Leigh Centurions 16 Workington Town 14 By Mike Hulme: CENTURIONS' boss Paul Terzis could hardly hide his relief after seeing his side scrape another crucial victory.

Terzis admitted that his team 'had one eye on next week's Wigan cup tie' as they fumbled their way up to second spot in the NFP.

"We got out of jail," Terzis admitted. "I was worried before the game and those fears were justified. But we are still unbeaten in the league and if we'd have been offered that at the start of the season, we'd have snatched their hands off."

Without six front-line troops, Leigh struggled for any sort of fluency and twice had to come from behind to beat the team that started the day in fifth spot.

Town took the lead in the third minute with a Tane Manihera penalty but Leigh were soon level when Simon Svabic landed a two-pointer. To add to Leigh's troubles Svabic didn't last much longer, taken off with a dislocated and possibly fractured finger.

Leigh had to reorganise again but they were soon in front when a break by Simon Knox ended with Mark McCully sending winger Eric Andrews in at the corner for a 6-2 advantage.

They looked like holding on to their lead until a couple of minutes from the break when Manihera's perfectly-weighted kick bounced kindly for Graeme Lewthwaite, the winger scoring at the corner. Two minutes after the break Leigh were behind, Anthony Samuel stepping out of a Paul Norman/Vila Matautia tackle to stride under the posts. Manihera hit the post with his conversion shot in what proved to be a vital miss.

Leigh edged back in front when a set move brought Dave Whittle a try in his first game since December. Jon Roper goaled.

But the defensive lapses that haunt Leigh re-appeared when Gary Charlton steamed through a huge gap to put Town back in front.

A couple of minutes later Town knocked on near their own line and Leigh put together a swift crossfield move that ended with Workington-born Roper going in for the winner.