By Matt Lawton
December 1 2009

Leigh Genesis suffered their first league defeat since early October at play-off rivals Bamber Bridge, but they did so in what could be argued to be a game that was lucky to go ahead admist extreme weather conditions.

Afternoon indications showed that the game would survive the previous evening's heavy frost, but visiting supporters travelling up the M6 certainly hadn't bargained for torrential rain and gale force winds that largely condemned the game to little more than a farce, with many surprised to see the fixture actually completed.

The risks of such playing conditions were painfully illustrated just minutes in to the game when Genesis midfielder Jamie Baguley had to be carried from the field after collecting an injury from a 50-50 challenge that, had it taken place on a dry pitch, certainly might not have carried through with the same force.

Prior to that, hosts Bamber Bridge had already shown an eye to take advantage of the conditions, Leigh's aptly-named goalkeeper Stephen Drench doing well to tip away a Danny Mahoney free kick from twenty five yards out that caught the strength of the wind on it's way to goal.

With eight minutes on the clock, Leigh thought they had hit the front when Tom Ince was presented with an open goal from just a couple of yards out, but he inexplicably failed to hit the target when collecting the rebound from a Matt Jansen shot that was well saved by Mike Hale.

Just three minutes later and Leigh had the lead when Dale Whitham's rasping strike was superbly tipped away by Hale as far as Jordan Stepien on the right hand side of the penalty area, with Hale spilling Stepien's cross at the feet of skipper Jonathan Smith, who joyously swept home his first goal for the club.

Leigh's lead lasted all of five minutes with the hosts pulling level from the penalty spot, ex-Leigh man Jerome Watt sending Drench the wrong way after winning the penalty himself when on the receiving end of a nudge from former Genesis team mate Stepien.

Matt Jansen had a couple of chances to restore Leigh's lead, heading the ball a fraction wide of the target from a pinpoint Kris King cross before being denied by a terrific save from the goalkeeper, with Jansen's shot being expertly palmed over the crossbar after Ince laid the ball off to the ex-England Under 21 star following a mazy dribble on the edge of the area.

Leigh were caught out just short of the half hour mark and fell behind for the first time in the game in ridiculous circumstances as Lennie Reid's shot trickled over the line after being stuck in a heap of goalmouth mud, despite the best attempts of Stepien to clear the ball off the line.

In what was becoming a real midfield slog, Garry Flitcroft decided against introducing Noah and his ark from the substitutes bench and instead brought on Andy Heald to replace Dale Whitham in the centre of the park, but neither side failed to create many clear-cut chances in the second half until the hosts sealed victory with four minutes left when Ashley Dunn swept home a rebound that had landed in his direction.

Despite the obvious disappointment of the result, a decent contest was never likely to happen in such conditions, and as such it shouldn't dent confidence too much ahead of FC Halifax Town's visit to the Leigh Sports Village Stadium on Saturday afternoon for a vital league fixture at the top of the UniBond League First Division North table (3pm kick off).

Leigh Genesis; Stephen Drench, Chris Page (Mark Ross), Kris King, Karl Munroe, Jonathan Smith, Jamie Baguley (Steve Flitcroft), Dale Whitham (Andy Heald), Matt Jansen, Chris Thompson, Tom Ince