By Matt Lawton
May 25 2003

Despite a stirring comeback in the second half, Leigh paid the price for an abysmal attacking display and fell to a shock defeat away against NL1 strugglers Oldham. Leigh arrived at Boundary Park with a hint of expectancy in the air as the Centurions looked to continue their 100% start to the season with another victory at Boundary Park. However, for much of the first half it seemed as though the Centurions were half-asleep and they struggled against a gallant and battling Oldham side who, despite undoubtedly having less quality in their side than Leigh, knew no limits to their courage.

The hosts started very brightly and had Leigh constantly on the back foot. Many Leigh supporters could sense that it wasn't going to be their day when Paul Rowley knocked the ball on straight from the kick off at the start of the game to put Leigh under pressure straight away, having to immediately drop-out from their own line.

Oldham looked to have got their reward for their early endevour when they seemed to go over for the game's first try, only for their celebrations to be cut short by the referee who disallowed the try for an offside following consultation with his touch-judge.

A couple of penalties from the boot of former Leigh stand off Simon Svabic put the Roughyeds in the driving seat before Oldham finally broke through Leigh's determined defence and Gavin Dodd went past Leigh centre Phil Kendrick and over the whitewash in the left hand corner. It was only to be expected as the ball spent much of the game in the Leigh half, with the Centurions struggling to get into any rhythm in their attacking play, although their defence was again impressive and couldn't be faulted.

Leigh looked to be carrying several knocks and injuries, Damian Munro and Sean Richardson in particular, and they struggled to get to grips with an uncomprising and physical Oldham pack. Leigh didn't look like troubling the scorers at all during the first half but thankfully neither did Oldham following their try to give a 10-0 half time score in the favour of the hosts.

Leigh started the second half much more sprightly but continued to make basic errors in attack which ultimately cost them the game.

Svabic popped over another penalty to stretch Oldham's lead further before Leigh substitute Leroy Rivett, fresh from signing a new 12-month deal at Hilton Park, gave the visitors renewed impetus when he went over in the right hand corner following some hard work from Phil Kendrick. Aussie stand off Patrick Weisner then landed a superb touchline conversion on his 'wrong' side to pull Leigh within six points of their opponents.

Leigh looked as though they would then snatch at least a point when centre Dale Cardoza, who had an otherwise poor game, skipped past the Oldham defence in front of the massed ranks of Leigh fans and went in at the side of the posts to send the travelling Leigh army wild with delight. It seemed as though it was a simple kick for a player of Weisner's quality but he suprisingly missed which proved costly for the Centurions.

It was then all Leigh for the rest of the game with Oldham posing very little threat and instead concentrating on their defence or spoiling tactics when they had the ball in order to run the clock down. David Alstead made a break which seemed certain to end in a try only for it be ended fifteen yards short of the line by Gavin Dodd. Leigh threw chance after chance away with Cardoza the culprit on two separate occasions, kicking the ball directly into to touch along with throwing a wildly aimless pass straight into the stand with Leigh having the advantage of an overlap.

Leigh knew their hopes had ended when Phil Kendrick threw the ball forward close to the line when trying to offload the ball in the tackle.

Although Oldham played well, Leigh should simply not be losing to teams who are second bottom in the league and that will be of grave concern for coach Paul Terzis and the Hilton Park faithful.