Leigh Centurions 26 Whitehaven 23 by Mike Hulme
LEIGH Centurions reward for reaching the last eight of the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Challenge Cup is a lucrative home tie against competition favourites Wigan.
It is a dream tie for the Centurions who have reached the quarter-finals for the first time in over a decade.
Coach Paul Terzis says: "For us to play one of the best sides in the world is a privilege. It will be an all-ticket game and Hilton Park will be packed to the rafters.
"If tickets went on sale tonight there would a queue all round the ground."
Wigan coach Stuart Raper said: "It's a tie we won't be taking lightly. They beat Salford last year and fully deserve our respect."
But Leigh so nearly were not in the draw at all - only snatching victory in the last two minutes.
Leigh were behind 23-14 when they produced an astonishing comeback to score 12 points and march on.
Full-back Neil Turley was Leigh's hero, scoring one try and laying on another to turn the match on its head.
There had been little indication of the drama to follow as Leigh started strong and built up a 14-0 lead inside the first 19 minutes with tries from Chris Irwin, Jon Roper and Simon Baldwin.
But two tries in the closing stages of the half from Marc Jackson and Paul O'Neil put the result back on a knife-edge.
Trailing 14-10 Whitehaven were a transformed team in the second half, repeatedly forcing Leigh to come out from their own line with a bombardment of shrewd tactical kicks.
Whitehaven's patient game paid off when, in the 67th minute, winger Leigh Smith popped up on the inside to score a converted try that put the Cumbrians ahead for the first time.
A Steve Kirkbridge field goal stretched the lead and when O'Neil went in for his second, Leigh looked dead and buried,
But in a frantic finish, Turley kicked through and won the chase for a six-pointer to breath new life into Leigh's chances and with the game in stoppage time, Turley provided the pass that sent prop Paul Norman storming over for the winner.
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