Leigh East 28 Bradford Dudley Hill 21

Last seasons National Cup match away went to the wire, East winning the game 18-26 with in the last five minutes and Saturdays NCL Premier division match at Ledgard Avenue had a similar finish. Dudley Hill kicked off with a strong wind at their backs, holding East in their own half for the first set, ending in a handover on the forty metre line. The visitors certainly looked fired up for the game and Easts defence appeared unsettled which Hills big centre Alex Dickinson took full advantage of, coming inside and reaching to place the ball over the line with two East defenders attempting to hold him back to give his team a four point lead with less than two minutes of the game completed. Following the shock of such an early try, many teams would have conceded soon afterwards but the current league champions regrouped and refocused on the task ahead, replying on six minutes with a try by Danny Kilshaw following a good break and quick play the ball by young scrum half Adam Holland which caught the Bradford defence out of position, Holland adding the extras. Dudley Hill began to dominate with halfbacks Tony Williams and Mick Hill running the show and not surprisingly regained the lead on twenty two minutes centre Lewis Evans driving low from acting half to power over near the corner. Five minutes later a poor pass by East on the Hill forty was collected by wing Craig Tyman who managed to get the ball out to stand off Lee as he was tackled on half way, the former Hunslet player sprinting through to score between the posts and adding the extras. Hill were starting to dominate the game and a drop kick by Lee on the half hour taking the teams in at half time Leigh East trailing by six points to fifteen. Kilshaws kick from the restart was knocked on over the try line resulting in a drop out. It was Easts turn to take advantage of the strong wind blowing at their backs building field position with quick plays before veteran forward Brett Longstaffe crossed for his statutory try for the season with less than two minutes elapsed, Holland adding the conversion. East began to take control of the game using the wind and forcing their opponents to play from deep in their own half. With twelve minutes of the second half elapsed Kilshaw struck with his second of the day, following up a Gary Middlehurst break to outpace the cover defence from fifty metres. Lee grabbed a second try and conversion for Dudley Hill following a rare defensive error by Hunter for the visitors to regain the lead once again 18-21. With eight minutes remaining an almost identical break by Middlehurst once again was passed to Kilshaw on half way, the hooker sprinting through for his hat trick, a bit of role reversal from last weeks game when Kilshaw was provider for Middlehurst to score two of his three tries. Once again Holland adding the two points to give East a tree point advantage. The game was finally put to bed with two minutes remaining, Adam Holland sliced through the defensive line ducking under tackles and somehow managing to roll out of tackles before passing to Carl Mort who rolled as he was tackled freeing up a flick pass to Anthony Murray who calmly passed wide for Mark Cahill to score in the corner. The score being enough to give East the win in an entertaining game of rugby league. Next weekend the team travel to France to face Palau in the European Championship Final, good luck to the lads from all at Leigh East.

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