A win for Leigh's defence (From Leigh Journal)

A win for Leigh's defence

4:56pm Thursday 29th July 2010 in

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Widnes Vikings 18 Leigh Centurions 38

IT has been a lean couple of months for Leigh Centurions but finally there is evidence that the team is returning to full form after a six-try success at Widnes.

It was as much about defence as it was about attack, but in truth there was a marked improvement in both as Centurions put a series of away losses behind them.

A Mick Nanyn effort was disallowed for a foot in touch after four minutes but Centurions launched a further onslaught of the Widnes line within a minute, returning with points when Robbie Paul and Martyn Ridyard were both involved for Stuart Donlan to evade a couple of tacklers to score. Mick Nanyn booted the first of his seven goals.

A promising Widnes spell ended when Dave McConnell pressured Thomas Coyle as he was putting a kick in. The ball spooned for Nick Stanton who raced 90 metres for his fourth try of the season and a 12-0 lead in 11 minutes.

Widnes hit back in the 23rd minute from a kick return, with Paddy Flynn finding Stefan Marsh for the Wigan dual-contract man to finish from 60 metres. Danny Craven converted but from the restart Nanyn forced a drop out.

Centurions stepped up their attack and Ricky Bibey combined with Paul and Donlan for the full back to send Nanyn crashing through.

Widnes fought back to level at half time through tries by Kurt Haggerty and Shaun Ainscough, with stand off Anthony Thackeray creating both and Craven converting for 18-18.

The second half started in attrition as the forwards took the ball in but it was Leigh who emerged through the wrestle to play some excellent stuff, leading to Donlan’s 11th try of the season.

Nanyn converted and added a penalty before strong defence on their own line kept Vikings at bay.

Leigh took the ball down the field for Duffy to then notch a cheeky try between the posts.

As Widnes chased a bonus point, more superb defence prevented a Vikings reply and Leigh claimed their final try when Paul punted high and Nanyn stole the ball from Flynn in the air to then run between the posts.

Leigh: Stuart Donlan; Steve Maden, Matty Blythe, Mick Nanyn, Nick Stanton; Martyn Ridyard, Robbie Paul; Chris Hill, Dave McConnell, Ricky Bibey, Tommy Goulden, Paul Smith, James Taylor. Subs: John Duffy, Steve Nash, Macgraff Leuluai, Mike Morrison.

Attendance: 3,356