2:55pm Thursday 18th February 2010
By David Parkinson
LEIGH Centurions will all but qualify for Northern Rail Cup quarter finals if they can beat Dewsbury Rams at the compact Tetley Stadium on Sunday.
The team’s last visit to the Rams’ home came in 2008 when a late try from Dale Cunniffe earned Centurions a hard fought 28-20 win.
Since then, Dewsbury have become almost unbeatable.
They won all their league games last term and have made a promising start to this season with big wins over London Skolars and Rochdale Hornets.
Boss Ian Millward, who as reported a clean bill of health from the weekend's defeat of Featherstone, was asked if the smaller pitch at Dewsbury will play a part.
Millward said: "We'll use our experience of the York game.
“We didn't handle it very well so it gives us an opportunity to redeem ourselves.
“We were chalk and cheese between York and Featherstone.
“Our structure in attack was really poor against York and we continually dropped the ball.
“Our averages were higher at the weekend and that is the reason why there was such a difference between the two games.
“Support play is always going to come when you've got momentum. It means you are doing something constructive with the ball and are completing your sets."
Jacob Emmitt looks set to continue after a solid debut while Millward may be able to call on Matty Blythe if he has overcome the virus that kept him out of the Featherstone game, but Lee Mitchell could be back with Warrington Wolves after Garreth Carvell was suspended on Tuesday while Tyrone McCarthy remains in first team contention at The Halliwell Jones Stadium.
So far, the Leigh coach has been pleased with the input of his dual-registered players. "All the players are nice kids, not only good players but decent people," he said.
"We are looking for a win against Dewsbury which should set us up nicely for the Championship opener against Barrow, it's all about building momentum and I'm looking for some consistency."
Meanwhile, Leigh Centurions will take on Wath Brow Hornets in the Carnegie Challenge Cup on the weekend of March 6/7.
Amateur neighbours Leigh East and Leigh Miners also claimed home draws against Hunslet Hawks and Whitehaven respectively.
The Leigh boss was pleased with drawing the Cumbrian amateurs and passed on congratulations to East and Miners, saying: "Both have done well to get here and it should be a good weekend of rugby.
"If successful against our cup opponents, hopefully we'll draw one of the top Super League clubs. That would be the perfect scenario and would create some revenue too."
Centurions Reserves took on a strong Wigan team that contained former Australian international Phil Bailey and Karl Pryce at Orrell on Saturday.
Wigan were 22-0 ahead after 13 minutes and led 36-0 at half time before a spirited second half from the young Leigh team restricted Wigan to just two further tries and a 46-0 win. Best for Centurions were Andy Ainscough and Martyn Ridyard, while Ian Mort and Dale Cunniffe both saw tries disallowed.
The Leigh Independant Supporters Association holds its latest meeting tonight, Thursday, at Leigh East at 8pm. Guests include Robbie Paul, Steve Nash, Ricky Bibey and Tim Hartley.
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