Leigh go down gallantly to League Leaders

Leigh travelled to top of the table Altrincham Kersal (AK) hoping to sign off the year with a win.
It started poorly, with a vehicle breakdown en route, meaning a re-shuffle had to be organised during the warm up, leaving only 2 subs available.

Altrincham Kersal started the game strongly with their pack setting the platform for what would be a torrid afternoon for the Leigh forwards in the set piece scrum and lineout.
AK scored first from a driving maul from a lineout in the first 5 minutes. Leigh's woes soon worsened with an injury to Charlie Wood in the 8th minute. AK scored again shortly after giving them a 10 point lead. The game then went somewhat wild for 10 minutes with both sides squandering try scoring chances. Firstly, Duffy with an interception and sprinting 3/4 the length of the field before being tracked down, AK turned the ball over and but for a try saving tackle from Harrison dislodging the ball in doing so. Leigh looked to attack again from broken play and Cowley made inroads through the AK midfield but again great defence from the home side turned defence into attack, Leigh battled hard in snubbing this attack out.
Leigh worked their way into AK's half and were rewarded with a penalty, Rob Drake slotting over 3 points, 10-3. The home side didn't take long to get back on top with a converted try, 17-3, another Rob Drake penalty cutting the deficit to 17-6. However, the home side scored again just before half time to take the sides off at the break with the score 22-6.
With the encouraging words from the coaching team and with the wind on their backs the Hand Lane outfit came out positively in the second half but AK were in no mood to give any Christmas cheer for the next 40 minutes as they ran in a further 6 tries, taking the final score to 60-6.
The Leigh team defended gallantly putting their bodies on the line for the cause and never stopped working. Drake and Liku in midfield and Penn and Cowley up front with deserved mentions.
A 2 week break will see Leigh entertain 3rd placed Bolton on the 5th January at Hand Lane.