Leigh Centurions 27 Hull KR 20

IAN Millward needed to do something out of the ordinary (writes MIKE HULME).

As Leigh went in for the half time break trailing 20-10, coach Millward gave his side a verbal rocket.

"That's the first time this season I've had to raise my voice to them, but I felt there were one or two areas that needed emphasising," he admitted.

But boy did it work. Leigh came out a transformed side, scoring 17 unanswered points to knock Rovers off the top and claim joint first place in the Northern Ford Premiership with Dewsbury.

Leigh totally dominated the second half despite running into a strong breeze and once they had got their noses in front, there was only going to be one winner.

"At half time I told the players we were at the crossroads. We could have done it easy and rolled over completely or we could have taken the tough option to stand and fight.

"I knew which road they would go down," Millward added.

"They came up with the best 40 minutes of football we've produced all season. Our ball control was excellent, decision-making top class and our defence impossible to break. What more can a coach want?" The only disappointing note for Leigh was seeing Tim Street get himself involved in a scuffle with his former Hilton Park teammate Jason Donohue deep into stoppage time. Donohue, blood pouring from a head wound, was sent off with Street sin-binned and the incident put on report.

In the first half Rovers showed why they are the competition favourites, steaming back from a try down to punish every Leigh error with a try.

Leigh had got off to a flying start with a try inside four minutes; Anthony Murray putting Tau Liku into space and the big second rower sent Alan Hadcroft in at the corner.

Paul Wingfield set the tone for an excellent afternoon with the boot by landing a magnificent touchline conversion.

But Rovers hit back almost immediately when a midfield mix-up between Andy Fairclough and David Ingram gave Whetu Taewa the opening to sprint 50 metres before putting supporting full-back Richard Smith in for a levelling six-pointer.

Leigh soon found themselves behind when the defence was slow to respond to Donohue's chip kick to the corner and Taewa pounced for a touchdown.

Leigh were back on level terms in the 26th minute when Murray's darting, diagonal run from dummy half gave Ingram the chance to collect his inside pass and steam in for his 14th try of the season.

But Rovers remained a threat and twice in the closing six minutes of the half they punished Leigh mistakes with tries. Taewa grabbed his second of the game when he burst through a huge gap in Leigh left flank defence and when the Centurions' marker play wasn't up to scratch, Mike Dixon started the move that ended with Paul Fletcher sprinting away for a fourth try.

"We needed to fix a couple of areas we were soft on in the first half," Millward pointed out. "But even though we were 10 points down, I was confident and the lads were confident they could pull it round."

With half-backs Andy Fairclough and Kieron Purtill directing the traffic in the middle and the likes of Heath Cruickshank and Street punching holes in the Rovers defence, Leigh quickly took a stranglehold on the game.

When Purtill's kick through took a wicked bounce off a defender the alert Cruickshank was there to gather and nip in for the try that started the fightback. Wingfield goaled and Leigh were only four points adrift.

That was soon a two point lead as Leigh punished a Rovers mistake when Fairclough picked up from a scrum base, beat his marker and shot in for his 14th touchdown of the season.

Wingfield asdded two kickable penalties that stretched the lead to 26-20 and four minutes from time Wingfield sealed the victory when he slammed over a long range drop goal.

Leigh: Donlan; Wingfield, Hadcroft, Ingram, Arkwright; Fairclough, Purtill; Street, Murray, Whittle, Cruickshank, Liku, Kennedy. Subs (used): Parr, Burrows, Patel. (Not used): Waterworth. Attendance 2419.

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