Halton Simms Cross 12 Leigh Centurions 36 by Mike Hulme: NORTHERN Ford Premiership title contenders Leigh made their expected progress into round four of the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Challenge Cup but they were given a rough ride by NW Counties minnows Simms Cross.

Leigh took the opportunity to rest nine of their frontline players and consequently suffered from a disjointed and error-strewn performance.

But head coach Paul Terzis defended his selection, saying: "It gave some of our fringe players to get some valuable game time and it also gave me the chance to blood youngsters such as Ian Hodson and Colin Milner.

"But overall it was a disappointing performance by us. We set ourselves a whole series of goals before the game - and didn't achieve any of them. But we are in the draw and that's all that matters."

Leigh made a flying start and gave every indication they were set for a landslide win over the Widnes amateurs. Tries from Paul Norman and Neil Turley inside the opening seven minutes gave them a 12-0 lead.

Leigh's frustration grew as they were unable to break Simms Cross again until just before half time when Phil Kendrick produced a break that brought a try for Eric Andrews, Turley's third goal making it 18-0.

The amateurs made a dream start to the second half, grabbing a scrappy try from Neil Percival after the Leigh defence had failed to clear a chip to the line.

Leigh were stung into action and put the game beyond any doubt with a burst of three tries in nine minutes from Lee Sanderson, Gareth Price and Rob Ball with Turley maintaining his 100 per cent kicking record.

Simms Cross kept battling away and were rewarded with another Percival try with Brian Capewell adding a second conversion.

The amateurs were reduced to 12 men in stoppage time when Lee Ashton was sent off for kicking after an all-in brawl broke out on the halfway line.