Leigh 6th Form College 1-2 Preston: LEIGH 6th Form College went down 2-1 to league leaders Preston - but probably deserved a draw

Leigh dominated the early exchanges and they should have gone ahead but Rob Pamphlett's final shot was a tame one. Leigh were caught out by a fast counter-attack. Rashid Saeed was forced to give away a penalty. The rock solid Jason Cunliffe, who had previously been untroubled by a Preston attack that had scored 28 goals in their last five games, was beaten with a low strike to his left.

Leigh took the game to Preston with some neat interchanges between Chris Doherty and Lee Hallworth that eventually resulted in Hallworth's ninth goal of the campaign a ferocious right foot drive low into the corner.

Leigh started off the second half still asleep and within 30 seconds conceded a goal from a corner, with the usually reliable Khaver Sadiq slicing his clearance into his own net.

Leigh pressed forward and continually rattled a Preston defence that had only conceded two goals. Hallworth was denied a brace with a goal line clearance and in the closing minutes a free kick taken by Sadiq struck the post.

The next home game is at Marshall Street against St Helens College on January 5.