Leigh Centurions 26 Featherstone Rovers 10

LEIGH have been left licking their wounds after booking a Major Semi-Final showdown with Widnes.

The Centurions edged a bruising Minor Semi-Final yesterday but have Tim Street facing suspension and Neil Turley and Andy Leathem among the casualties.

Street lasted only five minutes before he was sent off along with Rovers second rower Craig Booth for fighting. He will be clear for next Sunday's semi against Widnes but any ban will put him out of the Grand Final.

Andy Leathem lasted even less, the prop being badly concussed in only the second tackle of the game.

Even more worrying was the sight of free-scoring full-back Turley failing to appear for the second half after picking up a hamstring strain.

Yet despite the triple blow, head coach Paul Terzis was satisfied.

"I knew that if we played liked we'd trained we would win. Our preparation paid off and I didn't have a worrying moment in the entire game," he said.

"All we cared about was winning. It didn't matter how we got it."

Although Leigh's victory was clear cut at the end, they only scored three tries to two and benefited to a large extent from Rovers' indiscipline.

That indiscipline showed through early on as Simon Svabic potted two penalties in the opening 14 minutes to give Leigh a 4-0 lead.

That advantage was soon in double figures when Leigh produced a trademark move in which Simon Baldwin and Turley ripped Rovers wide open and Adam Bristow galloped between the posts for a converted try.

Not long afterwards Rovers gifted Leigh another six points when prop Dave Bradbury intercepted Neil Lowe's loose pass and and charged clean through from 20 metres.

Leigh effectively had the game sewn up just before half time when clever play out on the left ended with Bradbury providing the scoring pass for Turley and a 22-0 lead.

Rovers, who only gave Leigh one scare in the first 40 minutes, caused far more problems after the break.

They pulled six points back almost immediately when stand-off Andy Bastow linked with half-back partner Jamie Rooney to scamper over for a six-pointer.

Bastow and Rooney became a growing influence and were both involved in the 61st minute move that saw Leigh outflanked and Richard Thaler squeezed in at the corner.

But either side of Thaler's touchdown Svabic had potted another two penalties to keep Rovers at arm's length.

Leigh: Turley, Hadcroft, Anderson, Fairclough, Watts, Svabic, Swann, Street, Hamilton, Leathem, Baldwin, Morley, Bristow. Subs: Whittle, Bradbury, Bretherton, Kendrick.