COLNE pressed the self destruct button in the final quarter of an hour to return home pointless from their trip to Staffordshire.
John Lister's Reds looked well set for a hard-earned point after a battling performance but with just 10 minutes left they failed to deal with a cross and the home side took full advantage to scramble a lucky winner.
Earlier, Leek had capitalised on a mistake from Shaun Emmett to fire the opener past a stunned Ross Baxter in an end-to-end first half.
But the Reds dug deep and hauled themselves back into the contest when Gavin Cooper curled home a super free kick from 25 yards in the 60th minute after a foul on Gary Dalton.
Both sides then had chances to snatch it in a frantic finale.
But a lack of concentration in the Colne defence cost the Reds dearly as they slipped to an unwelcome opening day defeat.
RESULT: LEEK CSOB 2 COLNE 1
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