Featherstone Rovers 36 Leigh Centurions 10 No league points up for grabs today but yet another chance to measure how far Rovers have progressed. Three years ago this weekend Leigh were entertaining St Helens on Sky TV and now with a new stadium in the pipeline, they have applied for a franchise to return to Super League. At the end of the day the fans must be hoping for snow and hail for the rest of the summer as Featherstone repeated their Whitehaven display with a comprehensive victory over a disappointing Leigh team. The game started with Rovers facing the slope and the weather, and they made good ground from the start. Three sets as Leigh twice knocked on, when trying to prevent the release of the ball on the sixth, brought Rover close to scoring but good Leigh tackling kept their line secure. The breakthrough finally came though. Leigh knocked-on on the half way line and from the resulting scrum Tony Tonks and Stuart Dickens made good ground before, Sets were exchanged with good defence on both sides but sadly, just before the end of the first quarter, Nathan McAvoy whilst making an excellent tackle on Jamie Field must have twisted badly as he fell because after a lengthy delay he was stretchered from the field to be replaced by Mark Roberts. Leigh came close soon after this as they spread the ball right but good tackling by Saxton and McHugh bundled the winger into touch. Once again Leigh had a period of pressure which was relieved by a knock on. On the next set on the back of a penalty for offside, the Leigh defence opened up as Tiger dummied to send the ball to the right and cut back to ghost through the defence to score a try which was With a ten point margin Featherstone were looking good for their lead and certainly Leigh did themselves no favours soon after this score. An excellent run up the middle by Loz Wildbore, after fielding a kick through, was eventually stopped by the Leigh defence. In the attempted tackle just before he was stopped Steve Maden, the Leigh fullback, did not give Mr Leahy any choice as he drove his elbow up into Loz's face. The referee had no hesitation in pulling out his red card and with 50 minutes of the game remaining, Leigh were down to twelve men. Stuart scored from the ensuing penalty to extend the lead. With five minutes to go in the half Rovers drove up the field and as James Houston was held in the tackle he slipped out a delightful ball to the supporting Tommy Saxton. Tommy cut inside and outpaced the defenders to go under the sticks and score a try which Stuart, once again, converted. Leigh were still able to put some pressure on the Rovers line and a good kick to the corner just evaded the despairing dive of Chris Giles. The half ended with a penalty for a high tackle giving Stuart a chance for two more points. The wind tried its best but the kick just dropped over the crossbar to give a half time score of 20 - 0. Rovers looked to have started the second half with the idea that every set had to lead to a try and for the first few minutes coughed up the ball far too many times. Leigh took full advantage of this extra possession and after Waine Pryce had made a try saving tackle on the left a kick through was knocked dead for Rovers to kick out from under the sticks. From this second set Leigh were to get their first points of the afternoon. Some poor tackling by Featherstone gave Leigh ground and as the ball was slipped to Gareth Price he knocked off another would be tackler to drive over and score, close enough to the sticks for Ian Watson to convert. There followed Leigh's best spell in the game as they gained new heart and drove the ball up the field in a number of good sets. This eventually lead to their second and final score. Throughout the game they had tried to outflank the Rovers defence, especially on the right. After gaining ground with a penalty for a high tackle they spread the ball to the right once again and this time Craig Johnson was able to cross in the corner. Watson's attempt at the conversion suffered the same fate as Stuart's from a similar place in the first half and was blown back. The lead was down to 10 points and Leigh's confidence was growing. From the kick off Rovers had possession almost immediately. As Watson caught the ball behind the line and ran the ball back he was hammered to the floor by a Not for the only time in the game, a clever kick off into the wind came back into the Leigh hands and gave them possession in the Rover's half but the ball was knocked on at the third tackle. Rovers used the ball well to make ground and on the sixth tackle Tiger tried to increase the score with a drop goal but he pulled it wide. We had to wait until into the final quarter for the game to be finally sealed. Once again it was Tiger Handforth throwing the dummy and cutting back against the grain to score close to the sticks for Stuart to convert. Leigh were still battling and once again tried the short kick off, fielded well this time by Richard Blakeway. Drives down the field ended with a telling kick to the corner by Andy Kain and Johnson did well to stay in field as the chase surrounded him and tried to drive him over the touchline. Another Hesketh tackle unshipped the ball, but this time as the scrum formed, Leigh were awarded a free kick for Rovers not binding properly. This gave Leigh some yards with the kick but this just meant it was further for Andy Kain to run as Leigh refused to lie down and once again regained possession from the kick off and only good tackling prevented them crossing on the last. Rovers, though, were going to close the scoring. A well placed kick through by Kevin Eadie was chased just as well and Leigh had to drop out under the sticks. Moran was awake to a large gap in the Rovers defence and played a little grubber over the ten metre line. He reckoned, though, without his tiring players who failed to get behind the line before the kick was taken and Tiger slotted over the penalty to give final score of 36 - 10.
Half Time 20 - 0 Referee Mr J Leahy Scoring sequence 4-0, 8-0, 10-0, 12-0, 16-0, 18-0, 20-0, 20-4, 20-6, 20-10, 22-10, 26-10, 28-10, 32-10, 34-10, 36-10 Game breaker: Extra sets of six gained by Sean Hesketh's enthusiastic tackling stopped the slide and put Rovers back onto the scoring trail. Crowd 1121 © 2008 Stuart Lonsdale Any comments (constructive criticism welcomed) or volunteers please email webmaster@featherstonerovers.net
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Jamie Field threw a miss pass across the front of Andy Kirk to Wayne Price, creating the space for the winger to score in the corner. Kicking into the wind was never going to be easy and Stuart's attempt, although straight, was carried back to drop short of the line. 
close enough to the sticks for Stuart to overcome the wind and score. 
powerful Sean Hesketh tackle and he knocked on as he landed. Rovers squandered this chance when they knocked on at the first tackle but Sean was not to be outdone and gave the home side another attacking set of six as he wrestled the ball from Keavney in a one on one tackle. Rovers drove for the line and when the Leigh defence were penalised for interfering in the play the ball Stuart took the opportunity of extending the lead.
he intercepted the ball. A younger Dennis Moran might have come close in the chase but Andy pulled away to score under the sticks and give Stuart another easy conversion.
