Turley's famous five

JUST when Neil Turley thought life couldn't get much better he turns in a performance of a lifetime.

Five tries, eight goals and a personal points tally of 36 isn't a bad day at the office.

And when you come within a whisker of beating a legend's record, it's all the better.

Young Turley's points total equalled Mick Stacey's 36 from 15 goals and two tries against Doncaster in 1976 and was just two short of the great John Woods' record of 38 which he set twice in his Leigh career.

He was also just one try short of equalling Jack Wood's tries in a match record but is the first Leigh full-back ever to score five tries in a game. The last Leigh player to touchdown five times in one match was Aussie centre Steve Halliwell back in 1986.

"Woody was my hero growing up and to almost beat his record is a tremendous feeling," Turley admitted. "You don't get many opportunities in your career to do things like that.

"But more than anything I feel it's a tremendous honour to do these things for my home town club."

Hat-tricks in successive games and now 10 tries in his first five games for the club - Turley can do no wrong at the moment.

And Leigh can't do much wrong either. Even playing quite poorly at times they still managed to swamp a brave Lynx side with 10 tries to chalk up a fifth straight win.

The frightening thing is what they could have achieved had they played to their full potential.

A combination of their own carelessness and Chorley's dogged defensive work, kept Leigh's winning margin to reasonable proportions. Had they really put things together, it could well have been into three figures.

Even though they were well below their best, Leigh still had far too much class for Graeme West's battlers. They were too powerful up front, where Tim Street was magnificent, and generally had too much fire-power all round.

Despite their sub-standard effort, Leigh never looked back after Turley had scored the first of his quintet in the 10th minute. John Duffy's break and inside pass sent Turley in for his first six pointer.

Six minutes later hooker John Hamilton knocked off two defenders to collect his second try in successive matches while he was quickly followed over the line by winger Alan Hadcroft who made full use of the space created by half backs Liam Bretherton and Duffy.

Turley made it 20-0 when he finished off an identical move with Duffy, the full-back taking the inside pass to gallop under the posts.

Turley the try-scorer became Turley the try-maker; his reverse pass finding Street in full cry and there was no stopping the prop from 10 metres out. Turley added a third goal to give Leigh a 26-0 half time lead.

Thirteen minutes into the second half Turley was denied his hat-trick when somehow Chorley prop Mike Prescott got back to pull off a try-saver right on the line but Leigh kept the pressure on and after sub Paul Anderson had been held up on his back, another replacement Radney Bowker slipped outside his marker for Leigh's sixth try.

Chorley had rarely seen Leigh's tryline, let alone threaten it when they suddenly created an overlap for ex-Leigh centre Graham Taberner to squeeze in at the corner.

Having blotted their copybook, Leigh set about completely dismantling the Lynx and in the final 15 minutes they played better than they had done in the previous hour.

Turley's towering bomb set up a try for Anderson before the full-back turned it into a one-man show in the last 11 minutes.

His hat-trick try came when he stretched out of tackle to plant the ball down between the sticks; his fourth came after smart work from Dave Whittle and the fifth was thanks to Bretherton's long break.

LEIGH: Turley; Hadcroft, Kendrick, Fairclough, Jones; Duffy, Bretherton; Street, Hamilton, Leathem, Baldwin, Morley, Bristow. Subs: Anderson (for Duffy 53), Roden (for Hamilton 40), Bowker (for Baldwin 30), Whittle 9for Leathem 27), Baldwin (for Hadcroft 66), Leathem (for Street 70).

CHORLEY: Roberts P; Dickinson, Capewell, Ramsdale, Taberner; Ashton, Fisher; Prescott, Maiden, Conway, Harrison, Cain, Talbot. Subs: Roberts A (for Roberts P 51), Doherty (for Dickinson 63), Christy (for Harrison 25), Vincent (for Prescott 65), Harrison (for Conway 34), Conway (for Cain 65).

SCORERS: Leigh - Tries: Turley (5), Hamilton, Hadcroft, Street, Bowker, Anderson. Gls: Turley (8).

Chorley - Try: Taberner.

PENALTIES CONCEDED: Leigh 3, Chorley 4.

SCRUMS WON: Leigh 15, Chorley 9

REFEREE: Ronnie Laughton (Barnsley).

ATTENDANCE: 1382.