LEIGH Centurions interim coach Kurt Haggerty, who has yet to see his side win in five games since replacing John Duffy, was heartened by some elements of their defeat by Leeds.

But he said they have to learn how to hang in games when they can't break teams down.

Against the Rhinos they never recovered from the James Bellow yellow card from which point the Loiners assumed ascendancy.

"Once we had the sin binning we never really recovered," said Haggerty, whose side took the lead but then saw James Bell handed a yellow card for tip tackling England prop Mikolaj Oledzki.

"We were scratching at that point with 12 and when we went back to 13 there was too much for us to claw back.

"I have only seen it back once live, but if you lift a leg you are going to be sin binned. So we have got to be better on that.

"We are not great at being in that cycle yet. Once we realise we can't break them down and turn the ball over we have got to defend hard to get the ball back."

When Mark Ioane scored his side's second converted try after 48 minutes Leigh were back to within two converted scores at 24-12.

However, Haggerty did not expect a comeback, saying: "I still think we would have conceded more points."

Half-back Ryan Brierley scored his 199th career try for Leigh's late consolation but then left the field with a nasty eye cut.

There are still good signs for us. We are getting in games but we are just not staying in there. Once we stay in there and get to 55/60 minutes we need to learn how to feel those moments to be better.