ASSISTANT coach Neil Jukes says Leigh Centurions will continue to fight for their place in the history books, despite mounting disciplinary problems.

Leigh stretched their winning run to 27 games on Sunday with a 46-16 victory at Whitehaven.

They are now just two wins short of the all-time record set by the Wigan team of 1987, which included legendary players like Ellery Hanley, Joe Lydon and Dean Bell.

Jukes is concerned, however, that their opposition have resorted to strong-arm tactics in a bid to compete, which has led to the Centurions racking up an ever-growing list of fines and penalties as they fight fire with fire.

The club have worked closely with officials in a bid to improve their own disciplinary record, but Jukes believes they also deserve some added protection.

"We've worked hard with (RFL match officials coach) Ian Smith, we are working hard with the players but if teams want to challenge us in that manner we will step up to it and if they want to play rugby we will do that,” said Jukes.

“Look at the Bradford game, when all the sin-binnings came we were losing by 20 points, in the second half – a clean game – there were no penalties and we battered them.

“We are happy playing rugby.

"We are full-time and top of the tree.

"Teams will try and do what they can to stay with us, the ruck has been a big issue and whilst some of the decisions were a bit strange at the weekend, we controlled the ruck very well.

“We are full-time professionals and deserve the same quality of refereeing as Wigan, Leeds, Warrington and Saints.

"We've got Chris Leatherbarrow this week, who is a good young referee and we'll be working hard to make sure we are efficient in what we do."

A trip to London Broncos is next up for Leigh – their third straight game away from home.

Andrew Henderson’s Barnet-based side have picked up their results since losing twice to Centurions in March ¬- in the league at Challenge Cup.

They enjoyed an impressive victory over Sheffield in the Summer Bash and a narrow defeat by Bradford Bulls last weekend.

"We've got to make sure that our preparation is really good,” added Jukes.

“It will be a really tough fixture as we come towards the end of our away patch, it's important that we try and maintain that run.

“We've got to be really good and it's not just about what we do between 3pm and 5pm on the day, but how we prepare.

“It's shown if they do perform well and it sticks, they will be a difficult side to beat, certainly on the back of the journey that we are going to be doing.

“We've got to make sure that we are very good; we know, and the players know that we can't underestimate them."

Tom Armstrong will return from suspension and a stint out to finish his university dissertation, while forward Matt Sarsfield is expected to recover from a dead leg.

Gareth Hock will also be available for selection despite being fined £1,000 by the RFL for posts he made on social media.