Keighley Cougars 26 Leigh Centurions 28

A LATE try from Adam Higson continued the Centurions 100 percent start to the Kingstone Press Championship.

In truth the Centurions appeared under par for much of the second half as they struggled to contain Keighley who were expertly guided round by Paul Handforth and Danny Jones.

Leigh made a great start to the game when Ryan Brierley put Tommy Goulden through a gap on the right.

Tom Spencer supported and just when it looked like Daley Williams would complete the tackle, he offloaded for Bob Beswick to claim his third try of the season.

Martyn Ridyard goaled but Keighley were soon on level terms when Richie Barnett went over by the corner flag and Jones converted brilliantly from the touchline.

The Centurions frittered a couple of scoring chances away with Brierley twice sending the ball into touch instead of finding Higson, but the half back did get his play together after Martin Aspinwall was held up.

In the blink of an eye, he spotted the gap, deftly kicked on and Tom Armstrong charged through to collect.

Ridyard goaled to make it 12-6 and Leigh thought they had gone further ahead after Oliver Wilkes was put on report with Ridyard finding Matty Sarsfield on the left only for play to be brought back for a forward pass.

When Leigh did stretch their advantage it came against the run of play.

Keighley had been building but a poor back pass by Jones was twice kicked on by Stuart Littler and Brierley won the race ahead of his skipper for a 12th try of the campaign.

Keighley responded with James Craven going between the posts while Ridyard increased the Leigh advantage to eight points at the break with a penalty.

The second half saw Leigh make a strong start but they failed to capitalise and Keighley struck after 50 minutes when Williams sliced through on the angle.

Brierley created a try for Higson just before the hour but the Cougars again struck to level the game after Jack Lee darted over for Jones to goal.

The Cougars stand-off then kicked a penalty and Keighley thought they could hang on before the late attack came and Brierley linked with Higson once more for the winger to ground in the right corner.

Leigh: McNally; Higson, Littler, Armstrong, Kay; Ridyard, Brierley; Spencer, Beswick, Aspinwall, Sarsfield, Goulden, Barlow. Subs: Wilkes, Penkywicz, Emmitt, Haggerty.

Referee: Chris Leatherbarrow.

Attendance: 1,309