Durham City 3 Leigh Genesis 1

DESPITE enjoying more than enough of the play to claim at least a share of the spoils, Leigh Genesis made the long trip back from the north east empty handed.

They fell to two goals in the final eight minutes.

Genesis, who went into the game missing several injured players including Joe McKane (fractured ankle in the previous week's 3-1 loss at Chorley), were thankful for the quality of goalkeeper Adam Judge early on when he did well to tip an Evann Graham header over the bar from a corner kick.

The ball was in the Durham net on 39 minutes but the celebrations were cut short by the referee's assistant ruling out the strike for John Lawless being in an offside position.

Leigh were then a whisker away from taking a lead into the break.

A rasping Adam Strode strike from 30 yards crashed against the angle of post and crossbar, with ex-Hibernian youth stopper Lewis Graham doing well to claw away Eastham's curling shot from the rebound with a flying save.

Graham again showed his quality four minutes into the second half when Leigh player/coach Andy Heald delivered a stinging drive from a Lawless lay-off that Graham tipped over the bar.

Leigh conceded against the run of play in the 57th minute when a misunderstanding between Strode and Lawless in midfield saw possession given away and the hosts swiftly swept the ball forward for Dowson to slot home a debut goal.

Leigh had a golden opportunity on 60 minutes when Gary Scott threaded a terrific pass to put Lawless through on goal, where he effortlessly took the ball around Graham yet somehow failed to release a shot in time to roll the ball into the empty net and instead allow a retreating defender to clear the ball away for a corner.

With only 10 minutes remaining, the hosts doubled their lead when substitute Conor Winter came out on top of a tussle with Danny Lyons to wrestle his way past the Leigh defender and slot past Judge.

However, the game was wide open again two minutes later when Ross Wilkinson headed an Adam Strode cross past his own goalkeeper.

As Leigh pushed forward for an equaliser, going agonisingly close with a Tony Rendell header, Durham sealed the win in the first minute of time added on when substitute Stephen Thompson did well to split the challenges of Scott and Strode out wide to burst inside and lay the ball off for German debutant Sebastian Foerg to coolly put the ball past Judge.

Genesis: Adam Judge, Danny Lyons, Andy Heald, Tony Rendell, Adam Farley, Rowan Garnett (Jack Burke 57), Rick Gleave (Brodie Kearns 73), Gary Scott, John Lawless, Nick Eastham, Adam Strode. Subs (not used); Steve Brockley, Scott Sephton, Mark Maddox.

* Supporters wishing to travel on the team bus to West Yorkshire for Saturday’s clash with Ossett Albion, at £10 per seat, should contact matt.lawton@leighgenesis.com. Genesis also visit Curzon Ashton on Monday, kick off 7.45pm.