Dramatic comeback puts the skids under Wids.

Leigh travelled to fellow strugglers, Widnes, yesterday to play in what was a ‘must win’ match and put in a brilliant second half performance to come away with the spoils in what turned out to be a feisty encounter.

Leigh were the first to get some points onto the scoreboard when Elliot Ryan slotted over a penalty after early pressure in the Widnes 22.

Widnes were very quick to respond, however, through a well crafted, unconverted try which was scored wide out on the right hand side of the pitch.
They added a further seven points almost immediately when they dotted the ball down for a converted try under the Leigh sticks.

A period of intense Widnes pressure resulted in another unconverted try wide out on the left after they had stripped a Leigh player of the ball. Widnes 17 Leigh 3.

The Leigh revival started just before half time when Ross Shepherd collected a ball from the scrum to scamper over for a try, which was brilliantly converted, from wide out, by Rob Drake.

A penalty on the stroke of half time, by Rob Drake, narrowed the gap to four points as the teams went off.
Widnes 17 Leigh 13.

The second half saw a different Leigh side emerge and you could sense that they were all determined not to leave Widnes without a win.

The first twenty minutes of the second half saw both sides battering into each other with no quarter given but Widnes still managed to increase their lead by 3 points during this period through a penalty.

The final twenty minutes, however, was all about Leigh. An excellent charge down by Ryan McKinstry under the Widnes uprights was pounced on by Chris Morgan to score a dramatic try, which was converted by Rob Drake. Widnes 20 Leigh 20.

The winning score was a masterpiece.

The ball was constantly moved around by Leigh as the Widnes forwards ran out of steam. This created space wide out on the right hand side, where great hands by Andrew Gorski and Oliver Farley put Ollie Shepherd over by the corner flag. Rob Drake stepped up to the plate to slot over the vital conversion from the touchline to give Leigh a seven-point margin with only a few minutes to play. Widnes 20 Leigh 27.

This was a truly remarkable performance by the Leigh lads, they were certainly up against it in the first half but their dogged determination and ‘never say die’ attitude pulled them through in the end, to clinch that elusive first League win of the season, which has catapulted them up to 12th place in the League now, above Broughton Park and Widnes.

Next week, they travel away to Wigan, to compete in the Lancashire Trophy, in what should turn out to be a thrilling Derby encounter.