Leigh Centurions 58 Rochdale Hornets 30

The Hornets
By Matt Lawton
April 13 2003

The Centurions recovered from a torrid start to the game to slowly tighten their grip on the game and eventually run away with the game against Rochdale Hornets.

Centurions coach Paul Terzis had promised a backlash from last weekend's disappointing defeat against Chorley Lynx but the backlash was very slow in arriving.

Leigh started terribly and opponents Rochdale had a field day as the Centurions defence failed to get to grip with the Hornets.

The visitors took the lead after after ten minutes when Matt Lee went over after some soft Leigh tackling.

Leigh continued to play poorly and this aggravated the crowd to such an extent that they started to boo the Leigh players and voice their disgust at the Centurions performance.

Rochdale then further extended their lead when former Dewsbury Rams loose forward Damian Ball took advantage of yet more poor defence from Leigh to give Rochdale an early 8-0 lead.

The Centurions then went some way to silencing their doubters when captain Adam Bristow went over to pull Leigh within two points of the Hornets.

This proved to be a false dawn though, with Rochdale then going over again through winger Sean Cooper.

Leigh then again pulled the score back through centre Dale Cardoza, who responding to widespread criticism, by skipping his way through the Rochdale defence on his way to the whitewash. Cooper then scored again for the Hornets before substitute Damian Munro went over for Leigh to give a half time score of 18-16 in the favour of the visitors.

The second half started in much the same pattern as the first, although it was almost completely reversed with Leigh's play constantly improving and Rochdale throwing away opportunities with poor handling, despite the dry conditions.

Leigh went over for seven more tries through Willie Swann, a Neil Turley hat trick, a scintilating run from John Duffy, Paul Rowley and another from Munro to counteract Rochdale's second half haul of fourteen points to give Leigh an impressive 58-30 victory.

However, Leigh will again be concerned by their lack of concentration in key positions in the first half and their poor defence.

Another concern for Centurions coach Paul Terzis will be the news that full back Neil Turley will almost definitely be ruled out of Friday's opener to the League season with a game against Hull KR because of an ankle injury. Turley scored a hat trick, plus seven goals, this afternoon so his replacement will have a tough act to follow.