Judicious move to the seaside pays off – a ‘Grand Day Out’.

A waterlogged pitch at Hand Lane prompted Leigh to request that the fixture be switched to Southport and the well-drained pitch by the seaside suited them fine.

The First and Second Team Squads travelled together, by coach, for their ‘day out by the sea’ and both teams came away with, well deserved, wins.

The first ten minutes of the game saw both sides trying to test each other out but Southport were the first to score, through a move from a scrum, forty metres out, when they created space to crash over for an unconverted try down their left flank.

Leigh responded immediately and took the lead, when Johnny Drake dummied his way over the Southport line, from twenty metres out, for a brilliant try which was duly converted by his brother, Rob, from wide out on the left.

Southport again bounced back, on twenty-five minutes, by exploiting an overlap, down the left again, to go over for another well taken, unconverted try.

Leigh were again quick to respond to this and good handling from the backs got the ball out to Ollie Shepherd, on the left wing, who cleverly chipped ahead, over the covering Southport defence, to collect his own kick and dot the ball down, close to the corner flag, for a wonderful solo effort.

Southport 10 Leigh 12.

Further Leigh pressure was rewarded, just before half time, when Kieran Duffy grounded the ball, near to the right hand corner flag, for a well constructed try, to take the sides off, with Leigh leading by seven points at the break.

Southport shot out of the blocks from the restart, to catch Leigh napping, by chipping the ball through and re-gathering, to score a converted try under the Leigh sticks, 17–17.

Leigh immediately recovered, from this shock, with a well-worked try of their own through Phil Summers, who drove over the Southport line from close quarters.

A clever chip through by fly half, Alex Leadbetter, was collected by Elliott Ryan, to score out wide on the left, to take Leigh into a ten points lead but Southport were not going to lie down and soon added a try of their own when their winger broke away for another unconverted try to narrow the deficit to five points, with five minutes to go.

Leigh then lost a player to the sin bin, for a technical offence, which heightened the tension in the last few minutes, with Southport opting for scrum after scrum, in an attempt to breach the Leigh defence. Thankfully, the Leigh lads hung on and a brilliant try saving tackle by Jack Aspden, was the stand out moment in Leigh’s rearguard action.

Final score Southport 22 Leigh 27.

This was an excellent match to watch, with end-to-end action and drama. It really did turn out to be a good day ‘to be beside the seaside’ for the Leigh players and their loyal supporters.

The trip back to Leigh was a pleasant one, with both of the victorious Leigh sides bonding and celebrating all the way home.

Next week, Leigh travel to their near neighbours, friends and rivals, Tyldesley, to contest in their first local derby of the season. Kick off, 2.15 p.m. at St. Georges Park. Tyldesley are currently sixth in the League, with Leigh two points behind them in seventh position.