Best team for 30 minutes

Leigh travelled to Bolton yesterday with Wayne McCabe and Dan Hunter restored to the front row and their presence seemed to make all the difference in the early exchanges, with both making telling contributions.

Leigh started by throwing the ball about, with ever increasing confidence and were soon rewarded, with an excellent try, on fifteen minutes. Good interaction between the forwards and the backs set up a sweeping movement, from the half way line, which culminated with the ever supporting, Alex Leadbetter, darting over for a well deserved finish, which was dutifully converted, from wide out, by Rob Drake.

A Rob Drake penalty, after thirty minutes, extended Leigh’s lead to ten points but Bolton bounced back, just before the break, when a strong burst down the middle of the pitch was finished off with a converted try, under the Leigh sticks, to take the sides off at half time with Leigh leading by ten points to seven.

The Bolton coaching staff must have made all the right noises at half time because in the second half Bolton came out with all guns firing and soon had total domination of the match. They scored a converted try, from their first touch in the second half and they soon added another converted try and a penalty, to take their tally up to twenty four points by the fifty fifth minute.

Poor defending down the blind side let Bolton in for their final try, in the sixty- fifth minute, which went unconverted.

Final score Bolton 29 Leigh 10.

There will be an awful lot to work on in training this week but one of the most worrying things will be the loss, for several weeks possibly, of the influential Centre, Jonny Drake, who limped off early in yesterday’s match.

Next week Leigh host ninth placed, Sefton at Hand Lane K.O. 3 p.m.