By Matt Lawton
October 11 2010

A depleted Leigh Genesis side were just seconds away from being rewarded for a hugely hardworking performance with Evo-Stik League Challenge Cup progress, but an injury time equaliser and a further two goals in extra time saw Genesis eliminated from the competition.

A depleted Leigh Genesis side were just seconds away from being rewarded for a hugely hardworking performance with Evo-Stik League Challenge Cup progress, but an injury time equaliser and a further two goals in extra time saw Genesis eliminated from the competition.

With illness and injury ravaging the Leigh squad, the visitors were only able to name three substitutes, one of whom was manager Maddox, while assistant manager Gary Scott appeared in the centre of defence alongside Steve Brockley. After appearing in goal for nearly fifty minutes in Saturday's league loss to Salford City at Crilly Park, Paul Williams returned to his more familiar left back role, with Rick Gleave coming back in to the side on the left of midfield.

Given the circumstances surrounding the Leigh side in terms of fitness, their tremendously hardworking performance at the Tameside Stadium deserves particular credit for keeping the result in doubt for the full two exhausting hours of the encounter and will have a well earned five days rest before Saturday's trip to Chester.

The two sides last met on the opening day of the season when Curzon came from a goal behind to win 2-1 at Crilly Park, and it was the home side that saw the first opening of the game when Cavell Coo delivered a perfect cross to find James Ogoo unmarked in front of goal but Ogoo, by far the smallest man on the field, could only head the ball over Adam Judge's crossbar.

Judge showed his quality just two minutes later when he recovered from losing his footing mid-dive to keep out a tricky Chris Curley shot and grab the ball at the second attempt to prevent the chance of any rebound.

Leigh were handed a golden opportunity to take the lead after twenty eight minutes when some smart play along the ground saw John Lawless receive the ball with his back to goal just inside the Curzon penalty area, with Lawless' legs clipped by Adam Jones as he turned towards goal and leaving the referee with little option but to award a penalty, with Jones shown a yellow card, albeit more for his reaction to the decision that saw him kick the ball in the direction of the grounded Lawless rather than for the foul itself.

However, such is the luck of a side near the foot of the league table, Lawless' powerful spot kick cracked against the inside of David Carnley's right-hand post and away from the line, whereas a side with a little more luck than Leigh are currently enjoying would surely have seen the ball rebound in to the net and celebrate going in front, with the sides instead going in level at the break.

Within two minutes of the restart Leigh were grateful for the experienced play of veteran defender Gary Scott, who saved his side from going behind by being in the right place at the right time to hack the ball clear off the line after Daniel Broadbent had gone clean through on goal and chipped the ball above the advancing Judge.

The game began to open up at this stage, with Lawless seeing a low shot parried away by Carnel before collecting the ball and seeing a back post cross headed clear for a corner, before Rowan Garnett sent a twenty five yard shot fizzing over the crossbar from Nick Eastham's lay-off on sixty one minutes.

The game continued at a frantic pace from end to end as first Judge did well to save low down from a rasping Luke Mack drive before Carnel was similarly well-placed at the other end to keep out a ferocious Paul Hopkins strike at the near post.

Eastham dipped a half-volley narrowly over the bar on eighty two minutes before being withdrawn from the action three minutes later to be replaced by player/coach Andy Heald, who took up an unfamiliar role up front alongside Lawless.

Heald's introduction paid off within five minutes when, as the game headed in to injury time, he threaded through a wonderful ball behind the Curzon defence to set Lawless haring through on goal before expertly rounding Carnel and slotting the ball in to the empty net to seemingly seal Leigh's League Cup progress.

It proved to be far from the end of the drama though, and as the clock ticked past ninety two minutes Leigh were undone by a debatable free kick from the right hand side that was delivered in to the area for centre back Adam Jones to crash a header past Judge and send the tie in to extra time.

Tiredness and injuries inevitably began to play a part at this stage and a determined Paul Hopkins was finally forced to admit defeat to a groin injury after ten minutes of extra time to be replaced by Leigh's one remaining sub, with Maddox making a remarkable return to playing action having last appeared at competitive level with former club Formby last season. Danny Lyons was pushed further forward to cover for the loss of Hopkins on the right hand side of midfield, with Maddox taking up the right back slot on the outside of his assistant Gary Scott.

Maddox's fellow substitute James Olsen saw a free kick palmed wide of goal with two minutes remaining in the first half of extra time, but disaster was to strike after four minutes of the second period when Daniel Broadbent was fortunate to receive the ball on the edge of the area and made no mistake in lashing the ball past Judge.

As the visitors chased an equaliser, Maddox and the impressive Gleave joined Lawless and Heald in a four-pronged attack, and it nearly brought it's reward with just six minutes remaining when Heald nodded the ball down for Lyons to strike towards goal, only to see his attempt agonisingly clip the far post and go wide of the target.

Lawless went close with just a minute remaining with a deft chip that brushed the top of Carnel's net, but the visitors were to have the final say as the game reached the two hour mark when Mathew Purcell somehow managed to show enough energy to skip past a tired Leigh tackle and cross for substitute Chris McDonagh to head home the evening's final goal against his former club with the assistance of the inside of the far post.

Such a defeat will be a huge blow for Leigh, but they can take plenty of heart for the determination, quality and sound discipline that they showed through a testing two hours of football and can go in to Saturday's trip to take on Chester (3pm kick off) with their heads held high.

Leigh Genesis; Adam Judge, Danny Lyons, Paul Williams, Gary Scott, Steve Brockley (James Olsen 54), Rowan Garnett, Paul Hopkins (Mark Maddox 100), Joe McKane, John Lawless, Nick Eastham (Andy Heald 85), Rick Gleave