Southport turn the tide.

Leigh travelled to the seaside yesterday with the weather and the conditions underfoot perfect for playing open rugby.

The early exchanges were pretty equal but it was Leigh, who got the first points on the board, through yet another Rob Drake individual effort. Rob stepped his way through the Southport defensive line to canter over from forty metres out, for an unconverted try, on ten minutes.

The remainder of the first half was stalemate, with both sides basically cancelling each other out, in an error strewn first period.

Half time Southport 0 Leigh 5.

Southport pulled back three points through a penalty, just after the break but Leigh extended their lead, on fifty five minutes, when following a solid set piece, the ball was skillfully shipped out wide, for Jake Westwell to race away to score an unconverted try by the corner flag.

Another trademark Rob Drake touch of class, found Charlie Wood in support, for him to race clear, for thirty metres, before finding Elliot Ryan on his shoulder, for him to score under the Southport uprights. Rob Drake dutifully added the extras.

Southport 3 Leigh 17.

A penalty by Rob Drake seemed to put Leigh into an unassailable lead but a spilled ball by Leigh, in their own 22, allowed Southport to capitalise from the mistake and they readily took the chance to snatch a converted try. Another Southport score quickly followed, to put them within 5 points of Leigh, with just five minutes to play.

A basic technical error by Leigh, where they threw the ball into touch rather than kicking it, set Southport up, in the Leigh twenty-two, with a minute to go. They inched their way up to the Leigh try line and finally forced their way over in the final seconds to level the score at twenty points each. All hinged on the conversion, which thankfully for Leigh, Southport narrowly missed.

Final score Southport 20 Leigh 20.

Next week, Leigh entertain Tarleton at Hand Lane K.O. 3 p.m.