By Matt Lawton
April 21 2010

Two injury time goals saw Leigh Genesis defy injuries to some key players and come up with a win against a resurgent Salford City that had seemed unlikely for the previous hour when the hosts had held a comfortable one goal lead.

With regular goalkeeper Steven Drench missing through injury as a mammoth campaign nears it's conclusion, teenager Dean Porter came in to the Leigh side for his first league appearance of the season, while Karl Munroe, Scott Sephton and Ilie Morariu all made the starting eleven for the first time in several weeks.

It was Sephton who had the first glimpse on goal of the game, albeit with an attempt that he didn't necessarily mean to direct towards goal as his skewed cross landed on top of Andrew Robertson's crossbar on the ten minute mark.

After twenty one minutes, Robertson was called upon to palm away a Jack Dorney free kick before Porter did well to tip away a fierce Martyn Andrews strike at the other end.

However, there was little Porter could do to prevent Salford going ahead after twenty nine minutes when Mark Ross brought the ball forward to the halfway line from the Leigh defence but was caught out by a sudden bobble of the ball that allowed Salford to quickly feed Steve Foster through in goal using the space vacated by Ross, with Foster making no mistake in slotting the ball past Porter as the young goalkeeper came out to meet the striker on the edge of the area.

With only a minute until half-time, Salford inexplicably failed to extend their lead when Rhodri Giggs headed the ball across goal for on-loan youngster Lewis Nightingale to somehow miss the target at the back post when it seemed easier to score than put the ball wide of the post.

After the two sides delivered a thrilling 3-3 draw amidst torrential rain at Moor Lane last month, the second half somewhat failed to live up to it's billing with only a smart low save from Porter and a Lee Woodyatt flashed attempt over the bar to show for the efforts of the two sides.

At least, that was the case until the game exploded in to life with just three minutes left. Midfield veteran Andy Heald set off on a driving run from Leigh's left hand side that saw him dribble past two defenders on his way in to the penalty area before meeting the sliding challenge of Gareth Thomas. Although the Salford man appeared to get at least a portion of the ball, the referee ruled that he also got enough of Heald to warrant awarding a controversial penalty.

What followed was a series of melees around the penalty area as the two sides scuffled and threw accusations and counter-accusations. After three minutes of chaos and plenty of whistle-blowing from referee Mr. Johnson, Salford duo Steve Foster and Andrew Robertson and Leigh's Ilie Morariu were all shown yellow cards for their parts in the arguments before Jack Dorney was finally able to line up his spot kick.

If there were fears that the delay might affect Dorney's concentration then they were certainly unfounded as he sent Robertson the wrong way and calmly rolled his ninth goal of the season in to the net.

Not content with stealing a point in injury time, Leigh's tails were up and they quickly grabbed a winning goal as Tom Ince finally got himself in to his favoured position of taking on a defender on the left hand side, leaving Billy McCartney stood still with a burst of acceleration that gave him enough space to deliver a cross for substitute Leroy Chinthengah to head home at the back post and seal all three points for Genesis.

Although only a Curzon Ashton catastrophe in their final two games will bring any hope of Genesis making the promotion play-offs, but supporters have a final chance of the season to cheer on Genesis at the Leigh Sports Village Stadium on Saturday when Wakefield are the visitors for a 3pm kick off, with Leigh's end-of-season presentation immediately following the game.

Leigh Genesis; Dean Porter, Lee Woodyatt, Kris King, Mark Ross, Karl Munroe, Andy Heald, Scott Sephton (Leroy Chinthengah), Steve Flitcroft, Ilie Morariu, Tom Ince, Jack Dorney