LEIGH were caught cold for 20 miserable minutes on Sunday.

The wretched spell, quickly after half-time, ended with Tim Street red-carded for the second time this season and Leigh staring at a 24-4 deficit. From being just two points down at 6-4, the mauling temporarily knocked the stuffing out of them.

Astonishingly, Leigh then went for broke, scoring three tries to close the gap to 24-18 before Keighley finished them off with an injury-time touchdown and a 30-18 win - their first away win of the season and only their second at Hilton Park in 36 years.

For Leigh, while going some way to erasing the memory of their Wakefield hammering, consistency over 80 minutes and match-by-match, still eludes them.

Club skipper Street, who had twice been warned by referee Peter Gilmour, lost his head a third time at a 61st minute scrum. He and Fred Sapatu came out punches flying; Street walked and Sapatu got 10 minutes.

Ironically the dismissal sparked Leigh's best spell. After going almost an hour without making much headway, they burst into life with a three-try salvo that put the game back in the balance.

Jason Donohue's chip and re-gather released Phil Kendrick and the centre sent Keiron Purtill under the posts for a six-pointer; a Steve Garces break set up a try for James Arkwright and Paul Wingfield and David Hill did the same for Anthony Murray.

From being dead and buried, Leigh's pulses were racing again. But, unlike the last home game against Hunslet, this time there was no fairytale finale.

Earlier, a try from debut full-back Radney Bowker had been Leigh's sole offering.

Assistant coach Norman Turley admitted Leigh had been caught cold at the start of the second half.

"They hit us hard and early, and, although we made a creditable fightback, the damage had already been done," he said.

LEIGH: Bowker; Hill, Wingfield, Kendrick, Hadcroft; Arkwright, Purtill; Street, Donohue, Pucill, Costello, Grundy, Murray. Subs: Garces, Liku, Gunning, Donlan. Attendance 1,417.

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