Woodley Sports 1 Leigh Genesis 1

Leigh Genesis kept alive their hopes of a place in the UniBond Division One North play-offs with a point at Woodley Sports thanks to Matt Jansen's equaliser with twenty minutes remaining.

Although Genesis ran out 2-0 victors when the two sides met at the Leigh Sports Village Stadium last month, Leigh's last visit to Lambeth Grove could only bring a 2-1 defeat in the UniBond League President's Cup First Round last October.

On a warm afternoon in Cheshire, young midfielder Dale Whitham returned to the Leigh side fresh from his exploits in the United States for the England Schoolboys Under 18's side, while Karl Munroe returned to the squad, albeit as a substitute, after several weeks on the sideline through suspension and injury.

It was Whitham who had the first chance of the game, latching on to Jack Dorney's through ball and holding off a defender before sending an attempt towards goal that was plucked out of the air by Woodley goalkeeper Liam Higginbotham.

Higginbotham was helpless on 18 minutes but was thankful for the intervention of his midfielder Mark Haslam to head the ball off the line at the far post when it looked like Whitham would be heading his side in front from an Ince corner.

Whitham was proving to be Leigh's main attacking threat, and he fired marginally over the bar on 36 minutes from inside the penalty area after Steve Flitcroft’s quick free kick found Jack Dorney in space on the right hand side and allowed him to turn the ball towards Whitham in the centre.

Four minutes later and Leigh were a whisker away from taking the lead via a most unlikely source when Lee Woodyatt collected the ball 25 yards out and unleashed a rocket of a strike that flew narrowly past Higginbotham's left hand post.

With the game edging towards half-time, Leigh were left frustrated by referee Mr. Roberts when Tom Ince cut inside from the left flank on 42 minutes and appeared to be tripped in the penalty area by Woodley defender Liam Hogan, but the Genesis protests fell on deaf ears.

The half-time break saw Genesis boss Garry Flitcroft forced to make a change with Chris Page finally succumbing to a hand injury that he received within two minutes of the start of the game, with Karl Munroe coming off the bench for his first outing in several weeks.

Even in the early stages of the second period, Leigh were playing at an intensity that you might only expect with a few minutes remaining, but they fell behind on the hour mark when goalkeeper Steven Drench misjudged a cross in to his area that allowed Danny Queeley to nip in front of him and loop a header in to the empty net.

Leigh were behind for only 10 minutes before they finally found a way past Higginbotham when Ince delivered a perfect cross from the right hand side that substitute Matt Jansen, a replacement for Leroy Chinthengah, hooked in to the net to give Leigh a share of the spoils.

Leigh Genesis; Steven Drench, Lee Woodyatt, Kris King, Mark Ross, Chris Page (Karl Munroe), Andy Heald, Jack Dorney, Steve Flitcroft, Dale Whitham, Leroy Chinthengah (Matt Jansen), Tom Ince