Leigh Centurions 34 - 22 Hornets

Rochdale Hornets came close to hauling back the 18 point lead Leigh had built in the first half only to have what appeared to be a legitimate try chalked off by the touch judge on the far side of the field for a forward pass. Leigh added insult to injury with a dubious try in the closing minutes to put the result beyond doubt.

Leigh were out of the traps like a throughbred race horse and with just 26 seconds on the clock Liam Kay scored a stunning try. Ridyard missed the conversion.

A 40-20 put more pressure on Hornets and a Leigh scrum resulted in a penalty for lying on in a good position. A slick move and a looping pass from Brierley put Kay in for his and Leigh's second try. Ridyard converted to give Leigh a ten point lead.

Leigh soon crossed the line again but Higson's effort was ruled out by referee Jamie Bloem, who ruled the pass to him from Haggerty was forward.

It was then Hornets turn to have a try chalked off before Leigh strung together some nice short passing in midfield and McNally raced clear to cross the Hornets line. Ridyard converted.

Hornets finally got off the mark when a cross field kick was superbly scooped up by Gaz Langley, who went over near the corner. Paul Crook missed with his conversion attempt.

There was time for one more score before the half time interval and slick hands to the left gave Ridyard the ball and, as a last ditch tackle came his way, he found Brierley on his shoulder who finished off. Ridyard converted to give Leigh a well deserved 18 point half time lead.

Leigh Centurions 22 - 4 Rochdale Hornets

The second half was a different game, Hornets were undoubtedly the better team and can consider themselves unfortunate not to have taken at least a draw.

Right from the re-start, Hornets were piling on the pressure and were unlucky with a 40-20 attempt, but Kay defended well.

It was Kay though who spilled a Hornets bomb dead and from the Leigh drop out Hornets came straight back at Leigh and, with a little good fortune, a kick bounced back off the posts into the grateful hands of Bowman who scored by the posts. Crook kicked his first of the game and the Hornets fight back had started.

With Hornets dominating, and Leigh doing all the defending, Leigh scored completely against the run of play. Ryan Brierley intercepted and ran a full 60 metres to score under the posts. Ridyard converted to restore Leigh's 18 point lead.

The game got tetchy mid way through the half and this culminated with Suffolk and Acton being sin binned for squaring up to each other following a hard tackle on Acton.

The Hornets pressure continued and was rewarded when Baines did well to scoop up an attacking grubber to score. No mistake from Crook with the conversion.

With 14 minutes remaining Hornets were back within six points of Leigh as a beautiful offload from Crook put Danny Davies in under the posts.
An easy conversion for Crook.

A 40-20 earned Hornets a scrum just 10 metres from the Leigh line and they appeared to have scored a perfectly good try from the scrum only to see the try chalked off by the touch judge furthest away from the ball, for what he said was a forward pass.

To add insult to injury, Leigh put the result beyond doubt in the closing minutes when Armstrong went over in the corner and this time, when he arguably should have done so, there was no intervention from the touch judge. Ridyard kicked superbly from the touchline to add the extras.

A tense finish, Hornets deserved better, Leigh preserved their unbeaten start to the season but Hornets have the opportunity to quickly exact revenge as they face Centurions at Spotland in the Tetley's Challenge Cup fourth round next Sunday.

Leigh Centurions: Gregg McNally, Cameron Pitman, Tom Armstrong, Liam Kay, Bob Beswick, Tom Spencer, Ryan Brierley, Martin Ridyard, Tommy Goulden, Jamie Acton, Sam Barlow, Kurt Haggerty.
Replacements: Sean Penkywicz, Andrew Thornley, Oliver Wilkes, Jake Emmitt

Rochdale Hornets: Wayne English, Gareth Langley, Danny Davies, Michael Ratu, Sam T'eo, Paul Crook, Ryan Millard, John Cookson, James Tilley, Warren Thompson, Chris Baines, Jordan Case, Tony Suffolk.
Replacements: Lewis Sheridan, Adam Bowman, Alex Clare.

Attendance: 1,756