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Home tie within reach



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Published Date: 20 August 2008
Leigh Centurions head to Batley's Mount Pleasant with a job to do this Sunday!
And coach Neil Kelly is intent on his side getting the win they need to complete the first part of their season's goals.
"We want a home tie in the play-off," said Kelly. "Sunday's win against Whitehaven put that possibility in our own hands and it is now up to us to get it right.
"We need a win and that will secure us a home tie, possibly against Whitehaven or even Widnes, but it is all up to us and Batley is all we are concentrated on."


Leigh came through last week's game unscathed, apart from a few bumps and bruises, but the dismissal of Andy Hobson was something they could have done without.
"It is up to the judiciary," stated Kelly. "It was a tough game but with three on report and three sending-offs you would have thought it was a battle royal! '
"It was tough but nowhere near as tough as those statistics make it seem. We will have to see what happens.
"I thought we played superbly. We defended well and attacked with purpose. But it was when we were down to 12 men that we really showed our character to restrict them to one try, but to grab a try of our own. I would not single out any one player, but would laud them all for the performance they put in."


Whether it was Leigh's last game at Hilton Park before moving to the Sports Village for the 2009 campaign, will be determined on Sunday, but with players from the 1971 Challenge Cup winning side and the 1981-82 Championship team, the fans were given just the send-off they would have wanted in the last league game at a ground they had loved for 61 years.


But even 90-year-old Tommy Sale admitted the club cannot stand in the way of progress. He said: "Hilton Park has been a tremendous ground for us and one that was built by the Leigh community for the people of Leigh.
"But it is a little tired now and the new ground is a purpose built state-of-the-art stadium that will take us on, hopefully for the next 50 years or so. It is sad that we leave with so many memories, but we must look to the future."
Sale's own memories include the laying of the hallowed turf, and the placing of a horseshoe for luck, that was subsequently dug up when the floodlights were renovated some years later.
But as players go, he singles out two as the greatest of all time.
"Alex Murphy and John Woods," he said. "I brought Murphy to the club and in five years we won pretty much everything in our most successful spell as a club. And when he was coach in 1981-82 John Woods was at the club and he was sensational.
"Hopefully we will see more players of their ilk at Leigh over the next few years as we look to push our Super League bid."


Meanwhile Centurions second rower Adam Higson, who signed his first professional contract with Leigh a few weeks ago, has agreed to extend his deal with the club.
The former Leigh Miners junior has been in excellent form over the last two months, scoring four tries in eight games, and will now be with the club until the end of the 2011 season.


Centurions chief executive Allan Rowley said: "We're delighted with his progression and we've rewarded that with a three year deal. One or two clubs had shown an interest in Adam but we want a side containing as many local players as we can.
"He knows that he's not the finished article, but he's level-headed. He can now forget talking contracts every 12 months. He knows he's here for three years and he can concentrate on building his body up and getting a regular first team place.
"Hopefully he's the first of many."
Kelly added: "It shows the progress he has made in such a short space of time.
"We've secured him for a longer period ahead of our competitors and it certainly reinforces our desire to develop younger players and provide them with a pathway to first team and a successful career."

The full article contains 729 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 20 August 2008 10:31 AM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Leigh
 
 
  

 
 

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