Leigh bag first win of the Season.

Leigh welcomed Sefton to Hand Lane yesterday and the conditions were perfect for a good open match.

Early pressure from Leigh soon got Rob Drake into space and his clever crosskick to the far right hand corner found Eliot Liku unmarked for him to collect and dot down the ball, for a well thought out, unconverted try.

A penalty from Rob Drake, on ten minutes, quickly extended Leigh’s lead to eight points.

At this stage, Leigh seemed to be in complete control and after several more phases of play, Rob Drake again found himself in space and his long pass to Charlie Wood enabled Charlie to gallop in, from twenty metres out, for Leigh’s second, unconverted try of the afternoon. Leigh 13 Sefton 0.

Sefton rallied immediately after this and their efforts were rewarded with a well taken, converted try, out by the Leigh corner flag.

Another Rob Drake penalty stretched Leigh’s lead before Jimmy Wilkinson pounced on a loose ball, over the Sefton line, to score an unconverted try just before the break, to take the sides off at half time with Leigh leading by twenty one points to seven.

Sefton emerged strongly after the break and following several minutes of continual pressure, in the Leigh twenty two, they got over the line with a converted, pushover try, to narrow the deficit to seven points.

A sweeping Leigh handling move down the right wing, on sixty five minutes, saw Jack Aspden streak away before finding Jamie King on his inside, to finish in style for a well executed try, that was converted by Rob Drake.

Sefton again immediately countered with a well taken, converted try of their own to set up what promised to be an exciting final fifteen minutes. Leigh 28 Sefton 21.

At this point Leigh seemed to raise their game and realised that the simplest way to score was to get the ball out wide. This they did, with ten minutes to go, when they got Jimmy Wilkinson away, down the left wing, for him to outstrip the Sefton cover defence, to score his second try of the afternoon. A brilliant, individual effort, which was easily converted by Rob Drake.

Again Sefton would not lie down and worked their way down to the Leigh end to score another converted try from close range. Seven points in it with six minutes to go.

Fortunately for Leigh, they managed to repel Sefton’s efforts and put the game out of their reach with the last play of the game, when Ross Shepherd darted through a gap, to score under the uprights for a try, which was dutifully converted by Rob Drake.

Final score Leigh 42 Sefton 28.

Next week, Leigh travel away to face Southport.