Simply does it

Leigh welcomed next to the bottom of the League, New Brighton, to Hand Lane yesterday and they put in a good, workmanlike performance to emerge victorious, in their first game back after the Christmas break.

Selection decisions, made late in the week, saw the return of Paul Trumble, Paul Hampson and Captain, Ross Shepherd, returning after a long lay off, into the pack. Their experience and influence in this game proved to be vital.

New Brighton took an early lead through a penalty and went on to dominate the first half possession with Leigh battling hard to regain the ascendancy. The forward exchanges were brutal at times with New Brighton losing two front row players in quick succession to injury. This resulted in uncontested scrums for the remainder of the match.

Several phases of attacks, near to the New Brighton line, close to half time, made space for Jimmy Wilkinson to weave some magic and he skipped around their floundering defence, to draw in the last defender, before putting away Ollie Shepherd for a well taken try, close to the right hand corner flag.

Half time Leigh 5 New Brighton 3.

The second half saw Leigh come out with their tails up and it wasn’t long before they extended their lead.

A desperate clearance kick by New Brighton, was brilliantly fielded by replacement scrum half, Osian Griffiths, who found Jimmy Wilkinson inside him with a lovely pass. Jimmy again turned on the afterburners and replicated his run from the end of the first half to put Ollie Shepherd into space, for him to scorch away down the right wing for a thrilling try.

Leigh 10 New Brighton 3.

The remainder of the half saw both sides carrying hard and defending well in equal measure. New Brighton do not deserve to be a side in the relegation zone. Indeed, had they decided to kick a couple of penalties rather than kick for position, they could quite easily have come away with a losing bonus point for their efforts yesterday.

Rob Drake slotted a penalty with around ten minutes to go to ease Leigh into a ten points lead.

A massive defensive effort by Leigh, in the final period, managed to keep New Brighton at bay with some telling tackles being made by Dan Hunter, Rob Drake and Connor Longford.

Final score Leigh 13 New Brighton 3.

This was an encouraging performance by Leigh who showed flair and composure yesterday to prove that going back to basics can and does pay dividends.

Next week, Leigh travel away to face Hoylake. K.O. 2.15 p.m.