Regards
Ted Heath
Leigh's 12 men hold on for parity
Leigh Centurions 14 Rochdale Hornets 14
By Dave Hadfield
The only two perfect records in the Northern Ford Premiership fell yesterday as Leigh paid part of the price for playing most of the game with 12 men.
On a day when spectators of a nervous disposition waited with trepidation for the clash of Vila Matautia and Paul Davidson it was another front-rower who stepped out of line. Those two old offenders, making their first appearances for their new clubs, were on their best behaviour, but David Bradbury was sent off after 13 minutes for a high tackle on David Stephenson.
Leigh looked like overcoming that handicap when they carried a 12-8 advantage into the last 10 minutes thanks to some stalwart defending. But then Richard Pachniuk made the best clean break of the match, Richard Agar and Paul Owen supported and, from that position, Latham Tawhai and Davidson worked the ball for the young substitute, Casey Mayberry, to touch down in the corner and level the scores.
Agar landed the conversion from the touchline and Hornets were within sight of victory. With two minutes to play, however, the referee Stuart Cummings controversially penalised them for stealing the ball from Chris Morley in a tackle and Simon Svabic tied it up once more.
It was a match that both coaches felt they should have won. Rochdale were ahead by an Agar penalty when Bradbury went off, but they seemed worse affected by it than Leigh, who strode confidently into the lead with tries from Paul Rowley and Liam Bretherton, both the product of fingertip handling and both improved by Svabic.
With several key players missing as well as Bradbury, it was always a question of whether Leigh could hang on. They did so until shortly before half-time when Pachniuk found the way over. And it was real backs-to-the-wall stuff after the break. "It was a character-building performance and a good ingredient for the future,'' said Leigh's Paul Terzis.
His opposite number, Martin Hall, was predictably incensed over the equalising penalty. "The Leigh player tried to get the ball out, but we just jumped on it.''
It looked a harsh decision from the Rochdale point of view, but a draw was as fair a result as you could ask for.
Leigh Centurions: Bretherton; Andrews, Roper, McCully, Ingram; Svabic, Swann; Matautia, Rowley, Bradbury, Price, Fisherwood, Bristow. Substitutes used: Anderson, R Ball, Morley, Norman.
Rochdale Hornets: Owen; Billy, Calland, O'Meara, Cooper; Agar, Tawhai; Rogers, Pachniuk, Davidson, Smith, Stephenson, D Ball. Substitutes used: Mayberry, Bunyan, Larder, Berry.
Referee: S Cummings (Widnes).