Leigh East 34 Wigan St Judes 12 LEIGH East won one of their most critical fixtures of the season when they defeated fellow National Conference League promotion hopefuls St Judes in a top class game at Grasmere Street.

This was an outstanding performance by the Leigh side. The forwards again paved the way for the backs to use all their pace to rattle up a convincing victory.

The defeat virtually puts St Judes out of the promotion frame but to their credit they never stopped working and tested East's defensive abilities with a lot of good second half pressure.

East went 18-0 ahead in the opening 10 minutes with a blast of three tries which practically sealed St Judes' fate before the game had really begun.

Speed merchants Phil Marsden and Mark Kay, and strong running centre Mick Redford all scored tries before the visitors had touched the ball. Anthony Gredecki converted all three from the touchline.

St Judes tried hard to get back into the game but were twarted by some top defence until rewarded with a try from McCormack four minutes into the second half. Danny Jones kicked the goal.

But Darren Hall is in lethal form at the moment and two tries from him plus one from Lee Penkywicz, who impressed throughot with some classy centre play, combined with two more Gredecki goals kept the points rattling up.

McCormack scored again for St Judes with Jones converting.

Teamwork and commitment combined with skill and pace won the game for East but there were also some outstanding individual performances.

Man of the match Dale Aldred and Mick German were outstanding in the second row; props Shaun Whiteside and Tony Sanderson grafted all afternoon while in the backs, the likes of Redford, Kay, Marsden and Penkywicz showed that given the right conditions, they are probably the best threequarters in the division.

Tomorrow East are away at Millom. Supporters travelling on the club coach should be at the clubhouse before 10.45am.