Elliott’s double fails to rescue Knights

The Knights were always behind in the contest despite impressing with three tries. George Elliott bagged a brace and James Ford also scored, but their efforts were in vain.

“I’m very disappointed with the result because we had a fair share of the possession and the territory,” admitted Thorman.

“But we couldn’t make the most of the opportunities we were creating. Things are not falling for us at the moment in the right areas of the pitch, so a bit of panic sets in and we lose concentration.

“We had a try cancelled out in the first half, which was disappointing, but we let them have too many soft tries.”

The Knights were 18-8 down at half-time and, even though they scored a third try in the second half, it was the hosts who dominated proceedings at the Leigh Sports Village.

The Lions bagged six tries in total on their home turf, while Gavin Dodd kicked four goals to compound the damage.

But the home side could have easily won by more if Dodd had not missed three of his seven kicks, although Chris Thorman did miss all three of his conversion chances.

Doubles from Adam Higson and Tom Armstrong, as well as a try each from Kevin Penny and Martin Ainscough did the bulk of the damage for the Lions.

Nigel Wood, chief executive of the Rugby Football League, has been elected as vice-chairman of the Rugby League International Federation.

Wood takes over from Richard Lewis.