Up and running

LEIGH'S ring-rusty Centurions made their first hesitant step on the long road that they hope will lead to their dream destination of Super League.

The side that for so much of last season looked destined to join the game's elite division began their new Northern Ford Premiership campaign with a disjointed display at Hilton Park.

But with two points safely pocketed, Leigh are promising bigger and better things than this low-key opener.

It may not have been the most polished of performances but there were enough indications that given a little time Leigh will again be among the front-runners at the business end of a marathon season.

Reason for optimism came with the performances of some of Paul Terzis' new blood. Paul Rowley, on his second debut for the club, was the inspiration behind Leigh's dominance after an uneasy opening quarter and once a few of those around him learn to run off his intelligent distribution, Leigh will be as tough to beat this season as they were last.

Jon Roper gave the Centurions added thrust down the left while substitute front rower Gareth Price gave the Barrow defence a real pounding until his debut was unfortunately ended prematurely by injury.

Terzis' mix of new blood and old hands has every indication of being a potent one, especially if the likes of Simon Baldwin, Neil Turley, Willie Swann and Kieron Purtill can continue in the sort of form they showed in flashes on Sunday. It should be worth watching.

The head coach declared himself well satisfied with the contributions of all his newcomers and overall was pleased to get a first-day win under his belt.

"These early season games are never easy as every team strives to hit the ground running. Some passages of our play were quite brilliant; other areas of our execution weren't up the scratch," he said.

"We're not looking to hit top form straight away but to consistently improve week on week. I'll be looking for certain areas of our game to improve another notch or two at Batley next week. It's going to be a long, hard season but the prizes are given out at the end, not the start."

Leigh acknowledge that their completion rate of only 60 per cent was nowhere near last season's average of around 84. "If we control the ball, we control the game and we score points," was the coach's brief assessment."

When Leigh did control possession they looked in a different league than Barrow who, despite all their efforts, finished a distant second in the skills department. An indication of how worried they were about allowing Leigh the time and space to cut loose, was their persistent go-slow tactics at every play-the-ball. Leigh must have felt as though they were treading water as they struggled to play the game at their tempo.

However, Leigh won't be able to give other genuine title contenders the sort of latitude they allowed to Barrow early on. Having coughed up possession on one side of the field, Leigh's defence on the other flank got caught in two minds and allowed Barrow second rower Mike Whitehead the opportunity to send loose-forward Matt Leigh through a yawning gap for the opening try. Phil Atkinson's conversion from wide out had Leigh 6-0 down inside seven minutes.

It took Leigh the best part of half an hour to sort themselves out. They had threatened a couple of times; Chris Irwin was aghast to see his 'try' in the corner chalked off and Turley was halted by a flying tackle from covering winger Paul Salmon as the Hilton Park try machine headed for the whitewash.

The game slowly began to turn Leigh's way when Turley pulled two points back with a penalty awarded after Swann was poleaxed after kicking ahead. All three officials apparently had difficulty in identifying the culprit and put the incident on report for someone else to pass judgement.

Within six minutes the Swann/Turley combination had done the trick - albeit with a little help from distraught Barrow full-back Daniel Lockhart. Swann's speculative grubber towards the Barrow posts was fumbled by Lockhart and Turley opened his season's account with a poacher's effort. He turned the four points into six with the second of his afternoon's tally of five goals from six shots.

Impressive Barrow winger Salmon - a Leigh target last season - denied Turley, his recent England U21s team-mate a second time after the Leigh full-back was put in the clear following a typical scampering break from Rowley. But the Raiders' defence was still overstretched and when Leigh flashed the ball left, Roper scrambling in at the corner to mark his debut with a try. Nonchalantly Turley gave Leigh a 14-6 half time lead with a sweetly struck conversion from tight on the touchline.

Leigh looked as though they might run away with in when the lead went out to 20-6 within nine minutes of the re-start. Price caused the initial damage with a thundering break up the right but it was Baldwin's timing of the final pass that gave winger Liam Bretherton to skip round Atkinson tight on the touchline and make the 20 metres to the line. Another curling inswinger off the touchline from Turley made it a six-pointer.

Before the hour mark Leigh made the game safe when another debutant got on the sheet for the first time in Leigh colours; Andy Isherwood bulldozing over from close range to make it 24-6.

Instead of pushing on, further untidiness crept into Leigh's play and they were lucky not to suffer the consequences when Wayne Jones ran out of fuel and pulled up lame after intercepting and Atkinson fumbled when it looked easier to score. There was no such luck when Darren Holt intercepted Purtill's pass and immediately fed the flying Salmon who outpaced everyone over the next 70 metres for a try goaled by Atkinson.

Leigh at least finished strongly with Rowley topping his homecoming with a try. Roper's chip over the top started the move, Baldwin gathered and carried it on and Dave Ingram unselfishly allowed his skipper to swallow-dive over for Leigh's fifth of the day.

Match Facts

SCORERS: Leigh - Tries: Turley (28), Roper (35), Bretherton (49), Isherwood (58). Gls: Turley 5 (from six). Barrow - Tries: Whitehead (7), Salmon (69). Gls: Atkinson 2 (from two).

Penalties awarded: Leigh 4, Barrow 4.

Scrums won: Leigh 10, Barrow 6.

Referee: Julian King (St Helens).

Attendance: 2843.

CENTURIONS: Turley; Irwin, Anderson, Roper, Bretherton; Swann, Purtill; Whittle, Rowley, Bradbury, Baldwin, Isherwood, Bristow. Subs: Ball (for Bradbury 33), Price (for Isherwood 21), Ingram (for Swann 69), Kendrick (for Anderson 63), Isherwood (for Whittle 57), Bradbury (for Price 61).

BARROW: Lockhart; Salmon, Atkinson, Marsh, Irabor; Bowker, Winstanley; Liku, Henderson, Rawlinson, Jackson, Whitehead, Leigh. Subs: Holt (for Winstanley 25), Luxon (for Jones 63), Jones (for Rawlinson 38), Burns (for Liku 18), Winstanley (for Bowker 51), Liku (for Burns 26)