Leigh Centurions...18

Widnes Vikings...26 HILTON Park was awash with tears at the end of an afternoon of high emotion.

On one side there were tears of joy for Widnes and on the other tears of frustration as Leigh fought to come to terms with the realisation that they are probably doomed to at least another year in the NFP.

The crestfallen Centurions trooped off contemplating the wreckage of their dreams; a season's hard work down the drain in a few short minutes.

Leigh, the competition pacesetters all season, couldn't quite come up with the goods when it really mattered. The Minor Premiership and Trans-Pennine Trophy would gladly be traded for a place in tomorrow's Grand Final.

Instead it will be the Vikings and Oldham - both having beaten Leigh in the play-off series - who will now slug it out for a probable place in Super League.

For a second year in succession Leigh are the bridesmaids.

Ironically, Sunday's game mirrored Leigh's season. They were dominant for two-thirds but fell away at the end.

Leigh commanded most aspects of the game until Widnes showed tremendous resilience to win it in the final quarter. From 12-4 down at half time, the Vikings seized the initiative to grab a crucial 19-12 lead.

Even though Leigh fought back to close the gap to a single point, Widnes upped the pace again and finished strongly.

On reflection, Leigh will probably feel the game was lost in the first half. They were so dominant that a 12-4 interval lead was a poor return. An 18 or 20 point advantage might just have been too much for the Vikings to pull back.

Once Widnes had pegged it back to 12-10 eight minutes after half time, the Vikings had a vital toe-hold on the game. Leigh were pushed back onto the defensive and consequently found it difficult to mount any pressure of their own.

It was a different story in the first half, however, as Leigh had eight points on the board almost before Widnes had touched the ball.

Overcoming the handicap of playing without the injured Neil Turley, Leigh's forwards battered Widnes from the kick off with Tim Street, in what was to be the last game of his career, and Dave Whittle driving huge wedges in the Widnes defence.

Leigh needed less that three minutes to hit the front. They'd probed into the left corner before good hands from Simon Svabic and Willie Swann gave wide running Chris Morley the chance to bounce out of two tackles to stretch over for a try that Svabic turned into a six-pointer.

Michael Watts almost got a finger to Paul Anderson's tryline grubber as Widnes rocked.

When Sean Richardson was pulled up for a high shot on Street, Svabic easily slotted over the 20-metre penalty to make it 8-0.

Widnes fancied their chances down the flanks and there was a warning of their ability and pace out wide when Chris Percival swept in for the first of his two tries.

But Leigh responded in the best possible way by extended their lead. Liam Bretherton, deputising admirably for Turley at full-back, latched onto Svabic's bouncing bomb before slipping a magical pass away for Alan Hadcroft to get in at the corner.

Forty minutes gone, and so far so good.

But Widnes were in no mood to simply roll over and came out for the second half a different proposition. Scrum-half Martin Crompton became a growing influence on the game sending eager runners like Richardson, Hodgkinson and sub Joe Faimalo into the heart of the Leigh defence.

When Jason Demetriou broke up the middle and was hauled down just short by Bretherton and Bristow, Widnes made it pay when Agar's slide-rule grubber fell perfectly for Damien Munro to score. Craig Weston's touchline goal slashed Leigh's lead to 12-10.

There were only 19 minutes left when Widnes hit the front for the first time. A strong surge through the middle by Simon Knox did the damage, Widnes quickly moving the ball to the left for Percival to grab his second.

Between the 61st and 68th minutes Leigh saw their 12-10 lead become a 19-12 deficit. Munro collected his second after Richard Agar had somehow managed to get a pass away out of Bristow's smother tackle and then Agar, whose drop goal won last year's Grand Final for Dewsbury, hit another one-pointer.

Leigh needed a big play from somewhere to get themselves back into it. Swann was the provider when he held the ball up perfectly for sub Phil Kendrick to glide back on the angle and cross near the posts. Svabic's conversion had Leigh back in it at 18-19.

But no sooner had they given themselves a sniff a rare drop goal from prop Knox nudged Widnes further ahead.

Two minutes from time Leigh's fate was confirmed when sub Chris McKinney skipped out of a couple of tired tackles and crashed over, Weston adding the extras.

LEIGH: Bretherton; Hadcroft, Anderson, Fairclough, Watts; Svabic, Swann; Street, Hamilton, Whittle, Baldwin, Morley, Baldwin, Bristow. Subs: Kendrick (for Hadcroft 55), Duffy (for Hamilton 30), Bradbury (for Street 24), Leathem (for Whittle 21 BB, BBR 52), Hamilton (for Duffy 51), Street (for Whittle 69).

WIDNES: Atcheson; Munro, Weston, Demetriou, Percival; Agar, Crompton; Knox, Cantillon, Holgate, Gee, Richardson, Hodgkinson. Subs: Craig (not used), McKinney (for Gee 62), Faimalo (for Knox 35), Long (for Holgate 25), Knox (for Long 57).

SCORERS: Leigh - Tries: Morley, Hadcroft, Kendrick. Gls: Svabic (3). Widnes - Tries: Percival (2), Munro (2), McKinney. Gls: Weston (2), Agar fg, Knox fg.

PENALTIES AWARDED: Leigh 4, Widnes 6.

SCRUMS WON: Leigh 7, Widnes 8.

REFEREE: Ian Smith (Oldham).

ATTENDANCE: 6399.