LEIGH face the prospect of losing both frontline centres for the start of the new campaign.

A double injury blow took the gloss off a creditable team effort that saw Keith Latham's collection of promising youngsters, plus the odd old hand, push a strong Widnes side to the limit in Sunday's pre-season warm-up.

Before half-time David Hill was on his way to hospital with a dislocated shoulder and Alan Hadcroft had limped off with knee ligament trouble.

With experienced players thin on the ground, Leigh deserve some credit for staying in contention until nine minutes from time.

They trailed only 8-2 at that point. But a raw Leigh side dropped off the pace and let Widnes run in two late tries from Craig Makin and former Leigh prop Neil Measures. Paul Howell added both goals to crown a satisfactory workout for boss Graeme West.

Nobody would deny Widnes were the better side and deserved their 20-2 success. But don't read too much into Leigh's effort: things will be different when the big guns are rolled out.

Leigh's tenacity in defence frustrated Widnes all afternoon. Only twice did they collapse, significantly at the end of each half when fatigue was taking its toll.

Leigh were holding a 2-0 lead from a Chris Sullivan penalty until the 28th minute when Dean Cross scored at the corner. By half-time Leigh had been broken again when top class support play put in Andy O'Neill.

Dogged rather than dazzling, Leigh stayed in touch right to the death without ever looking dangerous.

Stuart Donlan performed competently at full-back, Mark Burrows showed up well with limited opportunity on the left wing and Aussie trialist Steve Garcis worked himself to a standstill and showed some neat touches as he strove to make an impact.

LEIGH: Donlan; Kay, Hill, Hadcroft, Burrows; O'Loughlin, Hilton; Liku, Sullivan, Conway, Costello, Smith, Garcis. Subs: Harvey, Ganley, Nixon, Goulding, Kendrick, Hudspith, Lewis, Burgess. Attendance: 2,603.

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