IT wasn't only the baking temperatures that had Leigh in a sweat before they cruised home.

Bottom club Lancashire Lynx were in dreamland as they swept into an early 14-0 lead.

Many of them couldn't remember the last time they led in a game let alone held such a big advantage!

The Centurions were still soaking up the sunshine as the Lynx - with 21 successive defeats behind them - let rip early on.

Helped by some atrocious defensive work and a string of helpful penalties, Lynx had two tries on the board inside the first 16 minutes.

They scored with their first attack when outstanding prop Jayson Pekepo got winger Gary Doherty in at the corner and not long afterwards Pekepo was heavily involved again as hooker Dave Wolford burrowed his way over from just short of the line.

Damieon Pickles added one conversion and two penalties on his debut.

It took Leigh the best part of 25 minutes to shake off their lethargy and finally put some sort of form together. They went on to edge into a 20-14 half time lead before adding another 30 unanswered points after the break.

Coach Paul Terzis admitted that many of his players were 'going through the motions' early on before realising they had a game on their hands.

"The pleasing thing was that we didn't panic when we were 14-0 down. We still had the belief and the ability to pull the game round," he said.

"Once we'd started to complete our sets the sheer weight of possession took it's toll on Lancashire. Fitness was a factor at the end and we scored some good tries. To come up with a 50 points win after such a poor start was a pretty good effort." Tricky hooker Mick Higham started the comeback when he took matters into his own hands, sprinting out of dummy half and beating two men on a 30 metre sprint to the posts.

Just two minutes later Dave Whittle punched a hole through the midfield defence and the supporting Craig Dean did the rest from halfway. Two goals from Paul Anderson had Leigh just a couple of points in arrears.

Tim Street's introduction from the bench gave Leigh the impetus they'd previously been missing. Driving huge holes in a tiring Lynx defence, Street set up the platform for the next try finishing in the corner by James Arkwright.

With confidence flooding back, Leigh were in full cry. The impressive Arkwright and Andy Fairclough made plenty of yards but it was some nimble footwork from debutant Liam Bretherton that set up Alan Cross for try number four and a 20-14 interval lead. Three tries in the opening nine minutes of the second half sent Leigh towards the regulation win they'd anticipated.

Stuart Donlan scored off Radney Bowker's pass; Anderson's touchline break and a helping hand from Higham gave Dave Ingram another before Adam Bristow and Arkwright got Higham in for his 20th of the campaign. Anderson took his goals tally to five and Leigh were 38-14 to the good.

Leigh had to wait until the final nine minutes to wrap up their biggest home win of the season.

Street picked up a well deserved four-pointer when he muscled his way in and just before the end Bretherton capitalised on Fairclough's clever work to add a try to his two goals.

Leigh: Donlan; Arkwright, Anderson, Bretherton, Cross; Fairclough; Dean; Leathem, Higham, Whittle, Norman, Bristow, Bowker. Subs (all played): Ingram, Varkulis, Cruckshank, Street. Attendance: 1424.