Turley's six of the best!

Workington Town...0 NOT since the glory days of John Woods have Leigh had a scoring sensation like young Neil Turley.

But even Woods the maestro never achieved what Turley managed on Wednesday night with the full-back's six-try haul equalling a club record that has stood for 54 years.

And had referee Richard Silverwood not pulled him back for a marginal forward pass, Turley would have had a magnificent seven!

Turley, with 17 tries in just seven games, is on fire - and after a rather low-key affair against West Hull, so are Leigh.

It's a club record eight wins in a row now for Leigh who, in one game alone have overhauled what was a massive points difference advantage held by NFP leaders Keighley. They are now just one point behind the Cougars and with a crucial game in hand.

With Turley and Leigh in this sort of mood it's going to take a good side to stop the Centurions' juggernaut.

Town certainly weren't that side. Depleted in a few key positions they may have been, but even at full strength they wouldn't have been able to hold back the red tide that Leigh threw at them.

While Turley benefited most to equal Jack Wood's 1947 six-try record, Leigh were in awesome form all across the park.

Simon Svabic was the main play-maker. He set up four tries, scored one himself and landed 11 goals from 12 shots for a personal tally of 26. And with his ex-boss, Salford coach John Harvey in the stand, it would have given him plenty of food for thought ahead of next week's Challenge Cup tie. While Turley and Svabic took the scoring honours both will acknowledge the groundwork laid down by the rest of the team. Leigh looked capable of scoring off every set of six and from anywhere on the field as the likes of Andy Fairclough, Simon Baldwin, Dave Whittle, John Hamilton and Alan Hadcroft took Town to the cleaners.

"Yes we were pretty awesome," beamed head coach Paul Terzis. "We've been threatening to do that to a side for a few weeks now and it's just unlucky for Workington that they got in our way tonight.

"But the thing is we know that we've still got plenty of improving to do. If we can lift ourselves another 20 or 30 per cent, some team's really going to cop it one day.

"At half time with a 36-0 lead I asked the players how many of them had come in before in situations like that and few said they had. But they all admitted that in those situations their game tended to tail off but I'm pleased to say that we were just as ruthless in the second half as we had been in the first.

"We also set ourselves a target of nilling the opposition. And we did that magnificently."

Such has been the improvement in the defensive side of Leigh's game that they are conceding an average of less that 10 per match; at Hilton Park the most points they've leaked in a match is eight and they've now played 177 minutes without conceding a try.

Wednesday was just one of those night's when Leigh were irresistible. From the moment Dave Ingram touched down for the first of 12 tries in the fourth minute, there was only going to be one winner. The avalanche of tries continued to flow as Svabic's inch-perfect kick gave Turley his first and Fairclough's nimble footwork and overhead pass sent John Duffy in - all before 20 minutes had gone.

Leigh kept their foot on the gas in the second quarter as Baldwin chipped through for Turley's second, Paul Anderson repeated the trick for Liam Bretherton and Alan Hadcroft screamed outside two men on the touchline as Leigh broke out from deep in their own half.

At half time it was 36-0 and had Svabic not hit the woodwork with his ninth shot at goal, Leigh would have exactly doubled their total in the second half.

Turley's hat-trick try in the 43rd minute came off yet another perfect kick from Svabic and his fourth came after the Leigh stand-off had split Town right up the middle.

Dave Whittle took Leigh beyond the 50 mark with Leigh's ninth try before Turley notched numbers five and six in the 55th and 64th minutes.

Still Leigh weren't done. They booked a Trans-Pennine Final place for a second successive year as sub Willie Swann's touch of class gave Svabic his try seven minutes from time. LEIGH: Turley; Hadcroft, Anderson, Purtill, Ingram; Svabic, Bretherton; Leathem, Duffy, Bradbury, Baldwin, Bristow, Fairclough. Subs: Whittle (for Bradbury 25), Swann (for Purtill 25 BB), Norman (for Leathem 36), Hamilton (for Duffy 32), Swann (for Bretherton BB 65), Duffy (for Hamilton 72), Bradbury (for Bristow 66), Bristow (for Baldwin 76).

WORKINGTON: Stoddart; Frazer, Coulson, Smith, Lewthwaite; Rumney, Horner; Savelio, Sice, Sturm, Beaumont, Samuel, Hoyles. Subs: Nixon (for Rumney 18), Tunstall (for Sice 28), Chilton (for Coulson 37), Barker (for Savelio 67), Rumney (for Chilton 54).

SCORERS: Leigh - Tries: Turley (6), Ingram, Duffy, Bretherton, Hadcroft, Whittle, Svabic. Gls: Svabic 11.

PENALTIES AWARDED: Leigh 2, Workington 3.

SCRUMS WON: Leigh 4, Workington 8.

ATTENDANCE: 2149

REFEREE: Richard Silverwood (Dewsbury)