Miners machine in cruise control (From Leigh Journal)

Miners machine in cruise control

9:57am Friday 9th January 2009

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Stanley Rangers 12, Leigh Miners 40: The fluency of the Leigh Miners Rangers attacking machine powered them through to the next round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup.

The Miners comfortably disposed of their Division Two rivals to set up another potential banan skin in the first round proper against Castleford Panthers.

The blood-and-thunder opening from the underdogs was to be expected and when the hosts won a penalty to take play to the Miners' line the ball was moved right on the last tackle for winger Joe McDermott to dive over by the flag.

Stanley’s tails were up and Miners appeared to be rattled. Their discomfort increased when a dispute over the referee's awarding of a goal-line drop-out resulted in Stanley adding to their lead with Gareth Whitehead's simple penalty under the posts.

Despite being relatively starved of possession in the opening quarter, Miners always looked threatening whenever they got within sight of the Stanley line. The breakthrough came when Leon Brennan shrugged off a tackle and darted through to score with Andrew Sarsfield adding the goal.

That sparked a Miners' onslaught with Warhurst sending out a fine pass on halfway to send Humphrey through down the right. With men in support the international centre drew fullback Hadson and sent Aaron Gorton in under the posts for another six-pointer.

Miners cranked up the pressure, running a penalty on the Stanley line and O'Brien sending Dean Balmer crashing over the line.

Two tries in as many minutes before half time effectively ended the game as a contest.

The first was a real gem as Sarsfield gathered Whitehead's kick off his bootlaces and then tore through from inside his own ‘20’ for a superb solo try. The second, right on the whistle, had Warhurst again picking out the perfect pass for Humphrey to go through and finish off. Two conversions gave the Miners a 30-6 lead.

With Stanley having the aid of the slope in the second half it appeared there would still be some work to be done, but the task of drawing their sting was rendered easier when the Warhurst and Humphrey act again opened the right channel for the centre to grab his second and a 30 point margin.

Stanley's battling qualities came to the fore though as they then enjoyed their best spell of the game, reducing the arrears when Jamie Gollings blasted through from half-way. Although his charge was checked on the line, some scrambling play eventually saw Matt Firth claim the try.

Miners rounded things off when Martin Lewis sent Brennan bursting down the left centre, cheekily chipping his opposite number and regathering to score.

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