Halifax 6 Leigh Centurions 18: Maneely hands Halifax lifeline but Leigh hold out

In appalling conditions at the Shay, with freezing rain lashing a field that glistened with standing water before a ball was kicked, Fax trailed 12-0 at the break but arguably dominated the second half in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 2,868.

In the end, they were left to rue aspects of their first half performance – with coach Richard Marshall highlighting an indifferent kicking game – as Leigh winger Jonathan Pownall sealed a hard fought victory with a last-minute interception.

“I thought both teams deserved something out of the game,” said Marshall.

“If we’d scored at the end there, I’d have been reasonably happy, but they’re a quality team and they scored from one of the limited opportunities they had in that half.

“I thought the second half we defended really well, but we let them off the hook in the first half.

“Our kicking game wasn’t as good as theirs and our discipline wasn’t as good.”

Leigh took the lead as Liam Kay twice crossed, Martin Ridyard adding the goals.

Halifax lost Mitch Cahalane to the sin bin at 12-0, but held out.

The introduction of hooker Ryan Maneely saw the former Warrington junior score the try that got Fax back in the contest.

Leigh shot themselves in the foot, throwing two long passes on their own line, the second of which allowed centre Chris Taylor to regather and put Maneely under the posts. Steve Tyrer kicked the conversion.

In the end, it wasn’t enough, with Pownall’s try – as Ben Kaye tried to feed a potentially scoring pass out to Tyrer on the left as Fax went for broke – sealing Leigh’s success.

Halifax: Greenwood; Saltonstall, Tyrer, Taylor, Brown; Murrell, Place; Cahalane, Kaye, Ambler, Manning, Divorty, Bracek. Substitutes: Moore, Spencer, Maneely, Tangata

Leigh: McNally; Pownall, Worthington, Armstrong, Kay; Ridyard, Brierley; Moimoi, Penkywicz, Walker, Haggerty, Goulden, Emmitt. Substitutes: Beswick, Wilkes, Barlow, Hopkins

Referee: M Thomason.