LEIGH'S Alliance side needed to beat Keighley at Hilton Park last night to book their place in the Division One Grand Final.
If they won through, the Under 21s will face a repeat of last week's Major Qualifying Semi-Final classic which saw them beaten 43-42 at Widnes after 100 gruelling minutes. The Grand Final is at the AutoQuest next Thursday, kick off 7.30pm.
Widnes had a firm grip on the marathon tie at the end of the first half with a 24-6 lead. Leigh, without the injured Lee Sanderson and with Martin Roden making his comeback after a broken ankle, scored through Jason Johnson with Craig Wingfield adding the extras.
Wingfield sent Darren Pilkington in early in the second half to cut the lead to a dozen points. Widnes extended their lead by Johnson's swerving run laid on a try for Alan Cross.
Leigh almost snatched it late in the game as they finished strongly with tries from Saf Patel, Roden and Paul Norman. Patel went closest to settling the tie but his injury-time drop goal drifted wide.
The first period of extra ended with the teams still level but another Widnes try and field goal settled it despite Rob Ball's late effort and Wingfield's sixth goal.
lLED by a hat-trick from winger Chris Humphries, Leigh's Academy side swept to a commanding 54-6 away win at Doncaster.
Leigh had the match in the bag by half time with a 24-0 lead that came from tries by Jay Wright, James Fairhurst (2) and Humphries (2). Chris Mellor missed with his first three shots at goal but went on to bang over the next seven.
Doncaster held Leigh in the third quarter but fives tries in the final 22 minutes took the young Centurions well clear.
Keiron Maddox scored the first try, substitute Martin Wilson and Steven Cooper continued the rout and Ryan Baker finished another fine move before Humphries completed his hat-trick with a spectacular length of the field solo effort.
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