FOR four glorious minutes Leigh were in dreamland. But almost as quickly they plunged to the depths of despair.

Keith Latham's brave battlers had to pinch themselves as they swept into a 10-4 lead against the big spenders of Sheffield Eagles.

The Super League side were on the ropes; a cup upset was on the cards.

But the controversial sin-binning of skipper Tim Street for obstruction ripped the initiative away from Leigh. By the time he came back the Eagles were as good as in the fifth round.

Sheffield went for the jugular and 18 points in a nine-minute spell effectively decided it. They finally cruised to a 62-18 win.

Referee Graham Shaw's obstruction ruling wrecked Leigh's chances after they had stunned the Eagles with a two-try burst.

Stand-off David Ingram had the Eagles in knots as he and Street combined to get Stuart Donlan in at the corner. Then he intercepted 25 yards out to gleefully stride under the posts to wipe out an early try from Jean-Marc Garcia.

But Leigh had no time to consolidate their lead as Street was binned.

The Eagles didn't need asking twice; they raced in for touchdowns in quick succession from Paul Carr, Keith Senior and Mark Aston for a 22-10 lead.

Referee Shaw again angered Leigh when he sin-binned substitute Scott Hilton for ball stealing, and the Eagles swept in for further tries from Nick Pinkney and Whetu Taewa to lead 34-10 at the break.

Sheffield coach Phil Larder was full of praise for Leigh's efforts. "The town should be proud of them," he said.

"They surprised us with the quality of their play. I'll say now that Leigh will be right in the thick of the promotion race."

Leigh again gave as good as they got in the second half and deserved a better return than their two tries.

Teenager Hilton, whose quality distribution was a big plus, opened the Eagles for Jimmy Veikoso to send in Dean Purtill. Hilton also had a hand in the move that saw Veikoso crash over.

England International Pinkney went on to complete a debut hat-trick while Senior and Carr added second tries. Another newcomer, Aussie Rod Doyle, also crossed while Aston finished with 22 points from a try and nine goals.

LEIGH: Hill (McLoughlin 6); Purtill, Veikoso, Donlan, Sarsfield; Ingram, O'Loughlin (Hilton 25); Street, Bannister, Pucill (Liku 47), Smith, McGughan (Daniel 38), Jukes. Attendance: 2,030.

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