Leigh Centurions 20 Halifax 16: Halifax left heartbroken as late try ends their Cup final dream

The West Yorkshire club had won crucial fixtures by a golden point twice in the last year, once to take the Championship Grand Final and again versus Featherstone Rovers to reach yesterday’s Northern Rail Cup final.

So, with the scores locked at 16-16 heading into the final minute of a dramatic showpiece at Blackpool, Leigh perhaps realised they had to seize control before the dreaded extension.

Halifax’s Dylan Nash gave them opportunity with a foolish high tackle on Stuart Donlan which gifted Ian Millward’s side position.

From there, Leigh – who stormed back from a 10-0 interval deficit and again after trailing as late as the 75th minute – worked towards Martyn Ridyard who lined up the expected drop goal.

However, under typically immense pressure from a Halifax side that grafted all evening, he was forced into running wide where, suddenly, space opened up for Stuart Littler to surge towards the line.

Within moments, Tom Armstrong was sliding over at the corner to leave exasperated Halifax heartbroken.

There was just 42 seconds remaining so the hooter sounded even before Mick Nanyn attempted a conversion which was irrelevant with Leigh players already celebrating.

Defeat was so hard on Halifax who were overwhelming underdogs to win the competition for the first time yet displayed so many characteristics of a champion team.

That was in the first half at least. After the interval, they more resembled the side that struggled to a single win in seven at the start of the season to the one transformed of late under the guidance of Brian Noble as coaching consultant.

Such was Halifax’s dominance of the first period they will have been hoping to have held a far greater advantage than 10-0 against the Championship leaders.

They barely put a foot wrong, making the most of a swirling wind and, apart from a couple of early scares, their opponents – who have now lifted the cup a record three times – rarely looked capable of threatening.

Both sides saw ‘tries’ chalked off in the opening skirmishes. First, Leigh full-back Donlan and Dean McGilvray inexplicably allowed Ben Black’s hanging kick to bounce in front of the posts.

In the ensuing panic, the ball bounced off Jamie Ellis’s head for Paul Smith to feed Rob Worrincy but video referee Jamie Leahy ruled some of Halifax’s chasers had initially been offside.

From that tenth-minute penalty, Leigh immediately thought they had crossed themselves when Ridyard slipped through but Leahy correctly deemed team-mate Andy Thornley had blocked Danny Jones to enable the chance.

Halifax, quick and strong in defence, were almost mistake-free in possession and soon deservedly earned the first try.

When Leigh’s otherwise excellent Tommy Goulden coughed up on his own 20m, Black initiated a clever delayed pass which caused confusion in Leigh’s ranks and saw an arcing Miles Greenwood sweep around to the corner with Ridyard rooted.

Jones missed the conversion attempt but added a 23rd-minute penalty when Leigh failed to deal with Halifax’s swift runs out of dummy half, a tactic which earned so much territory through the energetic Worrincy, White and Greenwood, their back-three easing the work-load off Halifax’s pack.

Explosive Australian back-row Sam Barlow made an impact off the bench, his off-load allowing Sean Penkywicz to put Stephen Bannister surging through a gap, the second-row rolling out of Littler’s desperate tackle to score on 28 minutes.

Jones converted and Halifax – who controlled the ball so well – looked ready to capitalise fully.

However, the second period was a different story.

Like the gambling machines on Blackpool’s seaside arcades, it was hard to know what would come next as they went from error to the sublime and back again.

When Worrincy made a rare mistake, Hull FC-bound Ellis sliced through as Halifax finally cracked in the 47th minute.

Goulden fumbled the re-start to offer them an instant reprieve only for Jon Goddard to spill at the play-the-ball as all Halifax’s earlier control disappeared. Soon, he was being dragged 10m back behind his own line to concede the first of numerous drop-outs and the pressure mounted.

Worrincy was the most relieved man in Blackpool when he bizarrely tried letting Ridyard’s kick bounce in to touch only to see McGilvary pick up and slide over.

Thankfully for the embarrassed Halifax winger, Leahy spotted a foot in touch.

However, when Greenwood erred there was no let-off as the Halifax line opened up for prop Chris Hill to blitz through from 10m, Mick Nanyn’s conversion levelling on 55 minutes.

The avalanche of Leigh pressure continued but Worrincy responded against play with a well-taken effort after fine approach work from Black and James Haley.

Jones’s touchline kick improved the 66th-minute effort before White and Goddard brilliantly held up Armstrong over the line as he collected Ellis’s crossfield kick.

Worrincy sped clear down the middle only to see the supporting Bob Beswick blatantly pulled back by Littler, referee Matt Thomason choosing to play an advantage when a penalty could have proved crucial.

Instead, soon after, Jones got caught on the last tackle and Ridyard’s stabbed grubber sat up perfectly for Ellis to dive between the posts, Nanyn making it all square with five minutes remaining.

Then up stepped Ridyard.

Halifax: Greenwood; Worrincy, Haley, Goddard, White; Jones, Black; Gannon, Beswick, Cherryholme, Smith, Bannister, Fairbank. Substitutes: Nash, Aizue, Penkywicz, Barlow.

Leigh: Donlan; Maden, Littler, Nanyn, McGilvray; Ridyard, Ellis; Hill, Duffy, Mills, Thornley,Goulden, Taylor. Substitutes: Hunter-Paul, Nash, Armstrong, Higson.

Referee: M Thomason (Warrington).

Ridyard’s late moment of genius was worthy of trophy, says Smith

VETERAN Halifax second-row Paul Smith believes Leigh deserved to win the Northern Rail Cup final with one moment of magic.

The former Huddersfield Giants star was at the heart of Halifax’s excellent first-half endeavour as they built up a 10-0 interval advantage against the favourites.

Leigh pulled back though as half-back pair Jamie Ellis and Martyn Ridyard began exerting their influence and it was Ridyard who came up with the thrilling last-minute play to secure them the trophy.

Level at 16-16, he dummied a drop goal as the Halifax defence pressed, before setting in motion Stuart Littler who provided Tom Armstrong with the match-winning try.

“We’d been leading for so long for it all to slip away,” Smith told the Yorkshire Post, as they missed out on ending their duck in the competition.

“To be fair, they deserved it though with that bit of good skill,” he said.

“Everyone thought it’d be a drop goal and it was a very smart play.

“Not many people would think to do what Ridyard did but he’s a quality player who took his chance with that piece of skill.

“You always want the chance to come back but we never got it as that was the end. That was the frustrating part.”

Smith, 35, conceded Halifax, so assured and composed as they went ahead through Miles Greenwood and Stephen Bannister tries, slipped into their old ways during the second period.

They had won six of the last eight games since Brian Noble came on board as coaching consultant but their form after the break was more reminiscent of the stuff which saw them endure a miserable start to the Championship season.

“In first half we completed 90 per cent of our sets and were awesome,” said Smith, who played with Leigh last season.

“We continued our form of late and showed what we are about.

“We were a bit unlucky to have a try disallowed but then we started to give away possession and seemed to be conceding drop-outs constantly on our own line.

“In the end, it told and we were hanging on. To be fair to Leigh, they didn’t buckle.”

Halifax coach Matt Calland was equally maganimous.

“There was some good play by Ridyard at the end to come up with a running play which just got us in the final minute,” he said.

“It’s like a morgue in there. The boys are really upset but I’m really proud of them. It was a great game of rugby league.”

Players give up final bonus to help out at cash-troubled Leigh

LEIGH players gave up their Northern Rail Cup winning bonus in order to aid the cash-strapped club.

Their dramatic last-minute 20-16 success over Halifax yesterday will have helped ease the burden following recent financial troubles which have seen their principal benefactor Arthur Thomas withdraw his funding.

Coach Ian Millward insists it will not be crucial but revealed the squad is looking to do its own bit to help it emerge from its struggles.

“It doesn’t change where we’re at financially,” he said.

“Everyone keeps waiting for the white knight to come in.

“There is still a lot of work to be done but the club is heading in the right direction.

“The players said ‘let’s not have a bonus or a new polo shirt for the game’.

“They wanted to make a statement to the fans.”

Millward admitted his side were over-awed in the first half when they trailed 10-0 having been thoroughly out-played by their West Yorkshire opponents.

Halifax, the only side to defeat the Championship leaders in the league this season, were too strong and purposeful but they wilted under a second-half fightback.

“I thought in the first half the occasion over-awed us a bit,” said Millward.

“They were a lot more clinical than us and we lost a lot of our direction in attack.

“Half-time was really important for us.

“It gave us a chance to re-focus on what we can do and it showed in the second half.

“It’s fantastic. When you see what it means to the fans and the people who have put a lot of money into the club, it’s pretty gratifying.”

The success also means Leigh can now apply for a Super League licence for 2015 after falling short this time around but Millward maintained: “I don’t think that’s the main criteria

“For the players, in a lifetime you don’t get to win many trophies. The other part is for the administrators.”