Rochdale Mayfield 20 Leigh East 10: THERE will be no chance of glory against professional opposition for Leigh East this season after they crashed out of the Powergen Challenge Cup following Saturday's torrid cup tie against Rochdale Mayfield.

On paper, Arriva Trains Conference Premier club East should have had little difficulty in over-powering Second Division side Mayfield. But underdogs Mayfield played the kind of aggressive, often 'close to the wind' type of rugby which can throw free-flowing sides like Leigh East out of kilter.

And this is exactly what happened in Saturday's second round tie. Reasonable conditions and a wide pitch should have suited the fleet-footed in East's line up, yet they became embroiled in a down the middle battle which they never went close to winning.

One or two players carried injuries. But the underlying reason for this defeat is that not everyone gave the effort they should have and badly let down team-mates like Simon Warhurst, Danny Kilshaw, Mark Kay and John Taylor who were hundred percenters through the game while defensively Rowson and Gunning worked hard.

Kilshaw opened the scoring with a good try which Woods goaled but then East went on to waste first half chances and it was Mayfield who led 10-6 at the interval. Mayfield's determination, far greater than East's, cannot be denied but it was still embarrassingly obvious missed tackles let them for two of the softest tries imaginable.

The second half degenerated into a scrappy, unattractive affair with Mayfield adding to their score with three penalty goals and a try. When East finally realised the way to the line - John Woods scoring in the 78th minute - it was too late to make any difference to the result.