By Matt Lawton
January 25 2011

Alan Kershaw’s new-look Leigh Genesis side turned on the style on a heavy Crilly Park pitch to run out 3-2 victors in a thrilling Evo-Stik League First Division North encounter with brothers Nathan and Marvin McDonald the stars of the show.

Just a fortnight after a midweek horror show brought an 8-0 home defeat against Witton Albion, Kershaw's Leigh side produced an incredible turnaround to run out deserved victors by the odd goal in five against a Trafford side who had ran 4-1 winners when the sides last met at Shawe View in September.

With veteran goalkeeper Phil Priestley, defender Adam Parkhouse and midfield Dave Dempsey all making their home debuts, Rob Flint making his first appearance since signing from league rivals Salford City and Marvin McDonald making his first Leigh outing as a striker alongside brother Nathan, it brought an introduction of steel and experience that Leigh had been lacking in recent weeks, though the squad still contained several of the promising youngsters who have impressed since being handed first team opportunities.

Again operating with an attack-minded 3-5-2 formation with the livewire McDonald brothers in attack, Leigh were forced in to an early reshuffle when Ali Asgari pulled up with a recurrence of a recent hamstring injury and had to be replaced by seventeen-year old James Carey after just eighteen minutes of action.

In a game that was delayed by forty five minutes in bizarre circumstances after several hours of heavy rain meant the pitch had to be re-marked at the eleventh hour, the visitors took the lead on twenty four minutes when Leigh goalkeeper Priestley misjudged a corner kick in to his box and left Joe Shaw with a simple finish.

That lead lasted only five minutes though when Marvin McDonald collected a debut goal against his former club, nipping in front of a defender to collect the ball and finish across Trafford goalkeeper Tom Read.

Having been unable to score more than one goal in a league fixture so far this season, Leigh's hoodoo was broken on thirty six minutes when Sam Fairhurst floated a free kick in to the top corner of Read's net for his first Leigh goal in over three years since scoring in a Lancashire Trophy tie away to Ashton Athletic in December 2007 in his first spell for the club.

Leigh thought they'd got a third only minutes later when Marvin headed in a rebound from brother Nathan's initial shot, only for the celebrations to be cut short by the offside flag of the linesman, with left to rue that decision with only two minutes of the first half remaining when a moment of genius from Shaw brought the sides back on to level pegging. There seemed to be few options for Shaw when collecting the ball in midfield thirty five yards out, but he was afforded the time and space to take a look up and deliver an unstoppable strike that swerved over Priestley and high in to the net to claim his second of the evening in inspired fashion.

Genesis have often struggled when playing up the Crilly Park slope in the second half during the course of their debut season at the Spa Road ground, but they showed little sign of that in this encounter as they largely dominated possession and territory, with the Leigh back three and the particularly impressive debutant Rob Flint coping admirably with anything that Trafford could throw at them to defend with composure and organisation meaning Priestley was left with little to do in the Leigh goal.

Nathan McDonald collected a booking on sixty four minutes but he got his reward for his tireless efforts on seventy six minutes, ironically with some assistance from Trafford midfielder Jamie Baguley, one of three ex-Leigh players in the visiting line-up alongside brother Chris and defender Nia Bayunu. Baguley was caught dwelling on the ball and dispossessed twenty five yards out by a clever Craig Carney challenge, less than a week after his eighteenth birthday, who then picked out a perfect pass between the two Trafford centre backs to set Nathan McDonald free on goal to roll a first time attempt past Read and gleefully in to the bottom corner of the net.

Genesis survived a late scare when Trafford fired the ball in to the side netting late on, with any anxiety as they waited for the final whistle heightened when the hosts were reduced to ten men in stoppage time. With brother Marvin already off the field having been substituted for Jack Smith after seventy seven minutes of sheer hard work, Nathan McDonald was somewhat harshly dismissed for what the referee deemed to be a second bookable offence, blocking the ball as Read tried to clear his lines by kicking the ball from his hands, albeit without McDonald jumping or even raising his leg to attempt to block the ball.

Another few minutes of play followed after a mid-second half delay as the referee's assistant struggled with an injury before Leigh were able to celebrate a well-earned, well-deserved and long overdue victory in what supporters will hope is the turning point in the club's season.

Leigh visit fourth-placed Clitheroe on Saturday for a 3pm kick off before leaders Chester and their anticipated 500-plus following are the visitors to Crilly Park next Tuesday (1st February) for a 7.45pm kick off. Needless to say, the visitors will enjoy huge backing and as such it's the perfect time for the people of the Leigh area to turn out in support of their town's football team on what could be a huge evening against the side formed out of the ashes of defunct Football League club Chester City last summer.

Leigh Genesis; Phil Priestley, Rob Flint, Adam Parkhouse, Dave Dempsey, Alex Grisedale, Steve Ferrigan, Sam Fairhurst, Craig Carney, Nathan McDonald, Marvin McDonald (Jack Smith 77), Ali Asgari (James Carey 18). Subs (not used); Phil Berrill, Chris Dykes, Bernard Williams