Leigh Genesis 0 Bamber Bridge 3
By Matt Lawton
April 10 2010
The play-off ambitions of Leigh Genesis suffered a hammer blow at the Leigh Sports Village Stadium as Garry Flitcroft's side suffered their second home defeat in three days.
Despite conceding a last minute winner to lose 2-1 against Radcliffe Borough on Thursday evening, Flitcroft largely kept faith with his starting eleven from that night, making only one change with Matt Jansen replacing Richard Ratcliffe alongside Leroy Chinthengah in attack.
It was Chinthengah, scorer of both goals in the 2-0 Easter Monday win at play-off rivals Skelmersdale United, who had the first chance of the game as he did well to hold off a defender before sending a powerful shot towards goal that was palmed away by Brig goalkeeper Ben Hinchcliffe.
Bamber Bridge striker Chris Thompson was coming up against his old club for the first time since leaving Genesis in February, and he forced ex-team mate Steven Drench in to a smart save at his near post on eleven minutes after the Leigh defence had allowed the ball to bounce in to his path.
As the game reached the 40th minute mark, Hinchcliffe was called upon to make a terrific point-blank save to keep out a Jack Dorney strike from close range from a Chinthengah cross that seemed set to hit the back of the net.
With Hinchcliffe showing his worth at one end, Thompson, who scored fourteen Leigh goals in thirty nine games over the space of just over a year at Leigh, quickly made his mark at the other, putting the visitors in front of 43 minutes. Thompson kept his concentration to ignore what could be argued to be valid claims for offside and fire across Drench and in to the net to give his side a one goal lead at the break.
Both sides made substitutions at half-time, with the ineffective Jansen being replaced by Richard Ratcliffe, while Phil Watson was replaced by Danny Mahoney for the visitors.
It took just two minutes of second half action for Mahoney to make his mark on the game, latching on to a Thompson backheel as the spare man on Brig's right hand side and slotting past Drench with his first touch of the ball.
Mahoney came close to a second on the hour mark when Mark Ross missed an attempted header and allowed Mahoney to run clear on goal, only for the Brig substitute to nudge the ball wide of Drench's goal when it seemed another goal was on the cards.
That third goal for the visitors did arrive just six minutes later, and it was one fit to grace a level much higher than the UniBond League Division One North as Bamber Bridge substitute Neil Reynolds fired an unstoppable shot past Drench from thirty yards that clipped the underside of the crossbar on it's way to the back of the net.
Drench was called upon to make a superb late save to block Craig Sargeson's late header, and Leigh's frustration was summed up in injury time as veteran midfielder Andy Heald collected a yellow card for tripping an opponent.
The disappointment of the defeat was merely compounded with other results dictating that Leigh slipped out of the play-off places, albeit now just a point behind fifth-placed Curzon Ashton ahead of next weekend's trip to Stockport to face mid-table Woodley Sports (Saturday 17th April, 3pm kick off).
Leigh Genesis; Steven Drench, Lee Woodyatt, Kris King, Mark Ross, Chris Page, Andy Heald, Antony Dorney (Chris Dykes), Jack Dorney, Leroy Chinthengah, Matt Jansen (Richard Ratcliffe), Tom Ince
| LEIGH GENESIS 0 BAMBER BRIDGE 3 | |
| Date | Saturday 10th April 2010 |
| Venue | Leigh Sports Village Stadium, Leigh |
| Attendance | 164 |
| Half time | Leigh Genesis 0 Bamber Bridge 1 |
| Competition | UniBond League First Division North |
| Scorers | |
| Bamber Bridge | Chris Thompson (43) Danny Mahoney (47) Neil Reynolds (66) |
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
The one the only Samantha Teri proud Genite and secret blonde
LG-SA.co.uk
