Leigh Centurions 19 Salford City Reds 36

By Matt Lawton
July 7 2003

Despite an early Leroy Rivett try, the full-time City Reds outfit romped to victory in a fiery Arriva Trains Cup Final in front of over 6,400 supporters at the Spotland Stadium, home of Rochdale Hornets, where ironically Leigh will be playing a league game next week.

The game started brightly with very few mistakes from either side and good defence from both, espcially from the Centurions team.

Leigh took the lead early on when Salford were camped on the Leigh line, but former Leeds Rhinos flyer Leroy Rivett pounced a Salford mistake and raced more than ninety metres to score the game's opening try, beating several players en-route to the try line.

Neil Turley missed the touchline kick but he then extended the Centurions' lead when he popped over a drop goal from twenty metres out to give Leigh a 5-0 lead.

Salford then took the lead when former Widnes Vikings prop forward Gareth Haggerty powered his way over under the sticks despite the attempts of Leroy Rivett to stop him. Haggerty then appeared to stamp on Rivett's head which sparked a mass brawl under the posts, with the try eventually being converted by former Hull KR loose forward Chris Charles. The Red Devils then scored a further two tries in fairly quick succession, and coupled with a couple of Chris Charles penalties gave them a commanding 20-5 lead at the break.

Leigh came out for the second half with all guns blazing and lifted their already vociferous supporters to another level when Willie Swann scored early on to give them hope of a comeback. However, Salford quickly scored again to restore their fifteen point advantage.

The City Reds then went on to score another two tries, although Leigh did score another two tries via former Widnes Vikings centre Damian Munro who continued his hot scoring streak with a try on Leigh's left wing, added to a try by record breaking Lancashire full back Neil Turley.

The match was marred however by several mass brawls involving the players, with Salford winger Alan Hunte getting sin-binned for fighting along with Leigh prop Sonny Nickle and Leigh centre Phil Kendrick was sent off for a swinging elbow as the game neared it's conclusion.

Leigh know they will have to improve before the possibility of facing Salford yet again but this time in the game that everyone has acknowledged is the biggest of all, the National League One Grand Final.

Before then, Leigh will turn their attention to their second visit in two weeks to the Spotland Stadium when they will face fellow National League One high flyers Rochdale Hornets in a hugely vital League game as the Centurions look to pull away as outright leaders of the league stage of the competition.