Frickley Athletic 0 Leigh Genesis 0

New Leigh manager Garry Flitcroft enjoyed a positive start to his reign as Genesis manager with a point at Frickley, but it might have been so much more had his side enjoyed a little more luck in front of goal on a blustery West Yorkshire evening.

After a playing career that never left the higher echelons of the domestic game and saw regular visits to Old Trafford, Anfield, the Reebok Stadium and the like, it may have come of somewhat as a culture shock for Flitcroft to begin his managerial career in the hardly salubrious surroundings of Frickley's Westfield Lane home.

Having witnessed Genesis concede twelve goals in the past week, Flitcroft reacted swiftly upon his appointment as manager to tighten up his side's defence, and it promptly did it's job with Raphale Evans, a loan signing from Rochdale, performing admirably at centre back after some early jitters, while Jonathan Smith took the added pressure of skippering the side on his Leigh debut in his stride and was imperious at the heart of the Leigh defence.

Evans and Smith certainly had their fair share of work to do, particularly in the air as the Leigh defence found themselves under an aerial bombardment in the first half as the hosts look to take advantage of a strong wind and a lively front pairing who found themselves frequently frustrated by the offside flag.

On the one occasion that they manage to breach Leigh's offside trap in the first half, Peter Knox saw his close range shot deflected wide by young Genesis goalkeeper Dean Porter after latching on to Danny Clarke's through ball.

Genesis, meanwhile, were largely struggling to get in to the rhythm of the passing football that has become their trademark, particularly on a poor standard of pitch that hardly aided ball control.

It was Leigh that had the first serious attempt of the second half when makeshift striker Steve Settle laid the ball off for winger Dale Whitham to fire a low strike that Frickley goalkeeper Adam Nicklin did well to keep hold of.

Although Frickley were struggling to create too many clear cut chances, their aerial ability caused a particular threat at set pieces, and Leigh were twice grateful to men well-placed on the goal line during the second half, with Dean Jones twice seeing headers blocked on the line, first by Kris King and secondly by Raphale Evans.

A mistimed Andy Heald header almost gifted a huge chance to the hosts but Knox failed to hit the target when shooting from an acute angle after rounding Porter.

A driving run from King saw the left back thread a wonderful ball through to Whitham on the edge of the area, but the young winger's shot was a tame one that was straight at Nicklin when clean through on goal.

With the hosts becoming frustrated at their inability to take advantage of any of the goalscoring opportunities that came their way, Genesis began to see a lot more of the ball and as such started to create more chances.

First, Jonathan Smith hooked a Steve Settle corner inches wide of the post, before Smith nudged the ball to Whitham, who's snapshot flew narrowly over the crossbar.

The quality of Steve Settle's movement in attack was starting to pay dividends, and he created enough space to cross for Karl Brown, who's dinked shot only just missed the target before an ambitious long distance strike from Chris Page almost caught out Nicklin, dropping only a matter of inches over the crossbar.

Neither side managed to make a breakthrough before the end and, while Frickley created a number of half-chances, Genesis will undoubtedly feel aggrieved that their higher quality of football wasn't rewarded with the goal they surely deserved.

The point, coupled with Prescot's 1-0 home defeat to Kendal, lifts Genesis from the foot of the table as they look to take advantage of a rare free Saturday and recover from any knocks and bruises ahead of Tuesday night's visit of third bottom Cammell Laird to the Leigh Sports Village Stadium (31st March, 7:45pm kick off).

Leigh Genesis; Dean Porter, Chris Page, Raphale Evans, Kris King, Jonathan Smith, Andy Heald, Dale Whitham, Karl Brown, Martin Ormesher, Steve Settle, Scott Sephton