THREE games in 10 days has been a punishing programme for Leigh's small squad.

"The two Easter games took a lot out of the boys physically and mentally," said coach Ian Millward after the side had laboured long and hard to overcome Lancashire Lynx 44-24.

"That's why we were a bit flat today. This week we will be back to normal and we can get our preparation back on an even keel."

It took Leigh the best part of an hour to douse the Lynx spirit; only when Scott Hilton went in for the sixth try could they breathe easier. But, while it wasn't perfect, Leigh continue to pile the pressure on leaders Hull KR.

They are two points clear in third place and a point off the top;

They are the second highest scorers in the Northern Ford Premiership;

This was their fourth successive away win.

When was the last time a Leigh side did that?

But one black mark is the way they continue to let in soft tries. They conceded four, each coming easy for the Lynx.

"There is a lack of intensity in our defensive play at the moment," added Millward. "Some of that comes down to fatigue. It's easier to play with the ball than without it.

"But I suppose we're asking a lot. We've ended up winning the game by 20 points when I suppose we wanted to win it by 40 to 50. And the atmosphere was so flat, despite there being 500 Leigh fans in a crowd of 700. That was mirrored in our performance."

Leigh quickly recovered from the shock of conceding a third minute try from ex-Leigh forward Shaun Geritas to lead 22-8 after half an hour.

Radney Bowker's outrageous dummy brought him a try, the first of Paul Wingfield's six goals levelled it and three tries in nine minutes took them clear.

Heath Cruickshank's penetrating runs brought tries for Wingfield, and when Andy Fairclough, Wingfield and Hilton cut loose Anthony Murray collected the first of his two tries.

Suddenly, however, Lynx were right back in it at 22-18.

Six minutes into the second half Murray raced clear, and, from dummy half, Fairclough went in for his 10th touchdown of the season. Lynx again replied, but a try from Hilton had Leigh back in gear and then stormed away.

Jamie Kennedy wriggled clear of three tacklers to score from close in and Murray finished off an eight-man move with Paul Norman supplying the scoring pass.

LEIGH: Donlan; Hadcroft, Cruickshank, Arkwright, Wingfield; Bowker, Hilton; Street, Murray, Whittle, Norman, Kennedy, Fairclough. Subs: Liku, Pucill, Lewis, Patel. Attendance: 777.

Points machine Paul Wingfield is pictured in the thick of the action

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.