Leigh 22 Halifax 14: Four sent off as Halifax fail to halt Leigh charge

Halifax slipped to a 22-14 Championship loss at Leigh in a tumultuous game that saw four reds cards and two yellow as the Centurions stretched their winning streak to 24 matches.
By The Newsroom
Published 11th May 2015, 07:54 BST

Richard Marshall’s visitors were trailing 18-14 – having led 14-6 just after half time – when Leigh centre Tom Armstrong was sent off for a head-butt on Fax’s James Saltonstall.

A contest that had been tough but relatively fair then exploded as Leigh’s Kurt Haggerty unleashed a flurry of punches on Fax prop Mitch Cahalane after being tackled by the Australian.

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That incident sparked an all-in brawl, which took referee Matthew Thomason several minutes to quell before sending off Fax pair Andy Bracek and Steve Tyrer along with Leigh’s Jamie Acton, while Haggerty was sin-binned along with Cahalane.

That left both sides with 10 men, and Leigh clinched the spoils on the final play of the game when hooker Bob Beswick touched down on the left.

The visitors took the lead with a scrappy try from Scott Murrell, before Leigh went 6-4 up with a Jonathan Pownall try, converted by Martin Ridyard.

A Ben Heaton try, after kicks from Murrell and Saltonstall, saw Tyrer kick Halifax into a 10-6 interval lead.

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Heaton added a touchdown five minutes into the second half, but Leigh replied with a score from Greg Worthington, before Tommy Goulden benefited from a freakish bounce of the ball after a Ryan Brierley kick.

Leigh: McNally; Pownall, Worthington, Armstrong, Kay; Ridyard, Brierley; Moimoi, Beswick, Acton, Haggerty, Dixon, Barlow. Substitutes: Reynolds, Hopkins, Goulden, Wilkes.

Halifax: Johnston; Saltonstall, Heaton, Tyrer, Saxton; Murrell, Craven; Ambler, Maneely, Cahalane, Divorty, Manning, Bracek. Substitutes: Kaye, Spencer, Robinson, Moore

Referee: M Thomason (RFL).

Related topics:LeighHalifax