Leigh Centurions 12 men ran out of steam as Halifax staged the biggest comeback of the season if not the century to snatch an incredible victory at Hilton Park.
It was tough justice on a Leigh side that had battled superbly from the 29th minute dismissal of Chris Hill that had left them a mountain to climb if they were to hang on to a hard earned 16-6 lead. But they not only climbed A mountain they almost scaled the equivalent of Everest by romping away to a 36-10 advantage that looked set to give them one of their most famous wins for years.
But it was not to be and as the visitors started to follow the ever dangerous lead of the vastly experienced Graham Holroyd an incredible five try blitz in a stirring last quarter saw the Centurions crash to defeat. They could have still snatched a victory, but Lee Marsh's pass to Gareth Price was ruled forward and Leigh opportunity to derail Halifax's victory train were left high and dry.
Yet despite the defeat Leigh can take great heart from the performance that saw them play a thrilling brand of rugby that left Halifax trailing in their wake, for the vast majority of the game - even with twelve men!
The game didn't start well for Leigh with Dennis Moran sin-binned after three minutes when found guilty of holding down Halifax' James Hayley. Halifax made their extra man tell when Leigh born Sean Penkywicz spun through a couple of tackles to score a Holroyd goaled try three minutes later. Leigh answered swiftly with Toa Kohe Love back in action and sending Dave McConnell in for an Ian Watson goaled try to level.
Leigh were attacking well with Watson putting the victors under pressure, whilst a superb chase and tackle from Dave Alstead crunched Andy Smith to the sidelines. Leigh finally took the lead on 23 minutes when Lee Marsh kicked straight from a scrum and Alstead was superb in racing down the touchline to gather the perfectly weighted kick to score, and Watson gaoled. When Moran broke three minutes later and the supporting Marsh put in kick along the ground for Moran to grab a poorly handled attempt at putting the ball dead, by Paul Smith, Leigh were well worth their 16-6 lead.
But then disaster struck as Hill put in a high tackle on Dave Wrench, and both sets of players squared up for an incident that was eventually put on report as Hill went for the early bath.
But Leigh picked themselves up and Mike Wainwright charged in from a Moran pass for another Watson goaled try before a Watson penalty had Leigh with a 24-6 interval lead and a standing ovation. It looked grim for Halifax especially with Holroyd sin binned for holding down.
Never the less Halifax had a try from Lee Patterson minutes after the restart before Leigh added to their tally when Halifax were back to full strength. Leigh responded with a second Alstead try from a clever Kohe-Love pass, and it looked all over as Moran and Kohe Love worked some magic and Chris Giles swept in for a Marsh goaled try.
But Halifax had different ideas as Haley went in for a 57th minute try that was to signal the beginning of the end for Leigh.
Within four minutes Holroyd stepped through and sped away to score, then Damien Gibson shot under the post and Holroyd goaled all three to close the gap to eight points. And when Penkywicz forced his way over form close range on 68 minutes the clock wasn't even Leigh's friend. Then Marsh had his pass to Price ruled out , and Leigh were on the slippery slop.
Paul Smith grabbed the try that put Halifax ahead again, and a late, penalty, his eighth goal from Holroyd finally put the seal on a marvellous win for Halifax and a dreadful disappointment for Leigh.





Leigh Centurions

1 Dennis Moran
2 Chris Giles
3 Adam Thomas
4 Toa Kohe-Love
5 Dave Alstead
6 Lee Marsh
7 Ian Watson
8 Mike Morrison
9 Dave McConnell
10 Gareth Price
11 James Taylor
12 Lee Doran
13 Mike Wainwright

Subs all used
14 Mark Roberts
15 Aaron Smith
16 Chris Hill
17 Andy Hobson

Tries: McConnell (8), Alstead (25,50), Moran (23), Wainwright (34), Giles (54)
Goals; Watson 5/6, Marsh 1/1

On report : Incident of tackle on Wrench
Sent off: Chris Hill (29) for high tackle
Sin bin: Moran for holding down (3).



Halifax

1 Shad Royston
2 Lee Patterson
3 Jon Goddard
4 James Hayley
5 Andy Smith
6 Graham Holroyd
7 Sean Penkywicz
8 Paul Southern
9 Janan Billings
10 Dana Wilson
11 Dave Larder
12 Richard Varkulis
13 Paul smith

subs all used

14 Damien Gibson
15 Miles Greenwood
16 Dave Wrench
17 Frank Watene

Tries: Penkywicz (5,68), Patterson (44), Hayley (57), Holroyd (61), Gibson (64), P Smith (73)
Goals; Holroyd 7/8 , Hayley 0/1
Sin bin Holroyd for holding down (40)

Half time: 24-6
Attendance 2212
Referee: Craig Halloran