Rochdale Hornets...36

Leigh Centurions...4 ARE chinks starting to appear in the Centurions' armour? Or should Sunday's second half mauling at Rochdale simply be put down as a bad day at the office?

Either way, Leigh's dip in form over the last couple of games will be a worry with the play-offs just around the corner.

They got away with a sub-standard effort at Workington the previous week but there is no hiding the fact that at Spotland they finished a distant second to a red-hot Hornets side who were really buzzing.

The deafening silence inside the Centurions' dressing room at full-time told it's own story. Pointing to the door, coach Paul Terzis said: "You don't need to tell those lads in there that they've not come up to scratch. They know they've messed up."

And mess up they did. Big style. This was Leigh's heaviest defeat for almost three years - but let's not slash our wrists just yet! This team has made enormous strides in the last couple of seasons and only three defeats in League and Cup this campaign is a record they should be proud of.

But if they needed a wake-up call, this should be it. Leigh need to get back to doing the simple things well. The rest then falls into place.

Sunday was a prime example. The pack didn't dominate, the kicking game was ineffective and they were let down by some careless handling. Plenty of things for them to work on this week.

Perhaps they've also got a phobia about setting new records. A win at Spotland would have equalled the club record of 14 in a row but they never got themselves into a position to seriously challenge the milestone.

The ominous signs were there early on, Brendan O'Mera had already been held up over the line when the dangerous Latham Tawhai launched a flighted crossfield kick which floated over Alan Hadcroft's head and into the waiting arms of Marlon Billy for try number one.

Leigh responded quite strongly but two disallowed tries in the space of eight minutes were to prove crucial in a tight first half.

The unlucky player each time was Hadcroft, the winger having one try chalked off for having a foot in touch, the second ruled out for a marginal forward pass.

Just when it looked as though Billy's sixth minute try would be the only score of the half, Leigh found a leveller. Phil Kendrick took Liam Bretherton's short ball at full pace, knocked off Warren Ayres and strode clean through to make it 4-4.

Dave Bradbury and Willie Swann tried to get Leigh moving but all too often promising field position was ruined by lost possession.

Right on the stroke of half time Hornets took the lead again. Kendrick and Tawhai got embroiled in a bit of pushing and pulling, but the decision went Hornets' way and gave Danny Wood the chance to kick his side into the lead.

When Leigh's usually watertight defence was breeched again twice in the first nine minutes of the second half, the Centurions were in deep trouble. Substitute hooker Darren Robinson caught Leigh's marker defence napping when he stepped out of dummy half and stretched over. Wood goaled to make it 12-4.

That was quickly increased to 16-4 when Matt Calland scored out wide from Danny Sculthorpe's pass.

Leigh could do little right in what was developing into a strangely subdued effort although they should have scored when Neil Turley's bomb was plucked out of the sky by Adam Bristow but Dave Whittle spilled the ball as he charged for the Hornets' posts.

When Calland took Sculthorpe's inside ball, bounced away from two defenders and went over at the foot of the posts, it was all over bar the shouting.

When Simon Baldwin messed up a 3-1 overlap, Leigh must have known it wasn't going to be their day.

Hornets had their tails up and increased their lead in the 69th minute when Tawhai and Joe Berry worked a runaround that brought Wood through at pace for a six-pointer.

Wood added a 76th minute penalty before another Leigh handling error saw sub Wayne McHugh toe-end the ball over the line for Hornets sixth try of the game, Wood landing his sixth goal.

LEIGH: Turley; Ingram, Anderson, Fairclough, Hadcroft; Svabic, Bretherton; Street, Hamilton, Bradbury, Baldwin, Kendrick, Swann. Subs: Whittle (for Bradbury HT), Bristow (for Bretherton HT), Duffy (for Hamilton HT), Norman (for Street 33BB, BBR67), Bradbury (for Fairclough 64), Bretherton (for Swann 68), Norman (for Baldwin 76).

ROCHDALE: Owen; Cooper, O'Mera, Calland, Billy; Wood, Tawhai; Sculthorpe, Ayres, Ireland, Rogers, Bunyan, Watson. Subs: McHugh (for Watson 72), Berry (for Ireland 31), Robinson (for Ayres 31), Bunce (for Rogers 64), Ireland (for Sculthorpe 72).

SCORERS - Leigh: Try: Kendrick. Rochdale: Tries: Calland (2), Billy, Robinson, Wood, McHugh. Gls: Wood (6).

PENALTIES AWARDED: Leigh 8, Rochdale 7.

SCRUMS WON: Leigh 11, Rochdale 7.

REFEREE: Peter Taberner (Wigan).

ATTENDANCE: 2473.