Leigh Centurions 12 Salford City Reds 32

By Matt Lawton
June 22 2003

Four controversial tries in the opening twenty seven minutes saw Salford grab a victory over previous leaders Leigh and saw the full time City Reds move to the top of the NL1 ladder for the first time this season.

The game was preceeded by new signing Tommy Martyn being unveiled to the Leigh faithful but this was virtually all the Centurions supporters had to cheer all afternoon. By quarter to five, new assistant coach Martyn must have realised the task in his hands after seeing visitors Salford, relegated from Super League at the end of last season, tear Leigh apart for much of the game, although with more than a little help from match referee Colin Morris.

Leigh started the game superbly and were over the line within the first few minutes through John Duffy, who grounded the ball after chasing his own kick. However, Leigh's joy was shortlived with Morris giving the first of many disputed decisions and ruling that Duffy had knocked the ball on when attempting to ground the ball.

This seemed to knock the stuffing out of Leigh's previous fervour and desire and the Centurions promptly went behind a few minutes later when stand off Cliff Beverley went over, although there was more than a suspicion of a forward pass in the lead-up to the try, with former Hull KR loose forward Chris Charles adding the extras to put Salford 6-0 up.

Former Halifax scrum half Gavin Clinch then extended Salford's lead with a hotly disputed try, with again a seemingly forward pass in the build up to the try, with Charles converting again.

Two poor decisions then bordered on the ridiculous when for the third time in the match Salford scored from a seemingly forward pass, this time Alan Hunte going over the corner after running thirty yards after a seemingly forward pass from former Leigh second rower Simon Baldwin, though Charles this time missed the tough conversion attempt.

Former St. Helens winger Danny Arnold then scored an unconverted try to put Salford into a commanding 20-0 lead although the Leigh fans were again infuriated by a refereeing decision which determined whether or not the try would be given. Centurions winger Damian Munro comfortably fielded a kick in his own goal area and reached out to ground the ball back in the field of play and was seemingly tackled, only for him to be dragged back into the in-goal area, and losing the ball in the process, with Arnold on hand to touch the ball down, although a try surely wasn't the correct decision.

This made both the Leigh players and crowd furious with the referee and motivated them to launch an attack on the Salford line, with Sean Richardson rewarding Leigh's effort with what was the game's first undisputed try, with Pat Weisner adding the extras.

Leigh then made a go of it when Munro intercepted a wayward Salford pass and sprinted away from the cover for a splendid fifty-yarder which was again goaled by Weisner to pull Leigh within eight points going in at the interval.

In the second half, both sides had fair periods of possession but neither managed to turn them into tries, though Chris Charles did keep the score ticking over with three penalties.

Leigh put plenty of pressure on the Salford line but several wrong decisions by the Leigh players in attack, along with some poor execution, meant they couldn't get back into the game.

Salford sealed the victory when Jason Flowers scored a late try which was converted by Charles to give Salford a flattering twenty point victory.

Leigh may have played poorly at times and they certainly didn't deserve to win, but they played valiantly in the face of several decisions going against them and just plain bad luck and didn't really deserve to lose either. Nevertheless, the victory will give Salford confidence as they top the National League One table for the first time this season and will give them a psychological advantage going into the Arriva Trains Cup Final between the sides in a fortnight.