5:00pm Thursday 18th February 2010
By Matt Lawton
GARRY Flitcroft's Leigh Genesis side travel over the Pennines to take on Wakefield on Saturday and will be buoyed by a battling performance at the Leigh Sports Village Stadium on Saturday.
They exacted immediate revenge on Clitheroe for their midweek Lancashire Trophy semi final defeat (see report inside).
In the Unibond First Division North clash, Clitheroe had their first glimpse of goal on 10 minutes when a Jason Jones strike flew narrowly over the crossbar.
At the other end Chris Page headed a Jordan Stepien free kick wide of the far post on 15 minutes.
Leigh took the lead on 19 minutes when confusion reigned in the Clitheroe defence.
Goalkeeper Danny Hanford fumbled the ball at the feet of Jack Dorney, who swept home his sixth goal of the season into the empty net.
Tom Ince was proving to be a thorn in Clitheroe’s side but he controversially found himself in the referee's notebook on 29 minutes.
After skipping inside two would-be challengers Ince hit the ground without any immediate pressure and was booked for simulation.
Leigh grabbed a vital second goal on the stroke of half time.
Andy Heald stroked a wonderfully-timed through ball behind the Clitheroe defence that released Ince to hare through on goal and coolly slot the ball into the right hand corner of Hanford's net.
It was not until the final stages that Clitheroe started to threaten, Gavin Lee-Ellison missing a gilt-edged opportunity against his former club when heading a Taylor corner wide from six yards out.
The game was thrown into chaos on 76 minutes when Leigh centre back Karl Munroe and Clitheroe winger Zach Clarke lunged towards the ball with their feet off the ground.
Both players could have been given their marching orders but only Munroe was shown the red card, leaving Leigh to see out the final 14 minutes with only 10 men.
Leigh Genesis; Stephen Drench, Lee Woodyatt, Kris King, Mark Ross, Karl Munroe, Andy Heald, Jack Dorney, Chris Page, Jordan Stepien (Ilie Morariu), Richard Ratcliffe (Scott Sephton), Tom Ince (Chris Dykes).
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