Leigh Centurions...26

Featherstone Rovers...10 NEIL Kelly should have stayed at home and mowed the lawn instead of wasting his time on a Hilton Park spying mission.

The Widnes boss, who brings his Viking invaders for Sunday's play-off showdown, won't have learned much. But he's smart enough to know that Leigh are capable of better, much better.

And the Centurions themselves know that all-round improvement will be needed this weekend if they are to win through to the Grand Final.

Cruising at half time with a 22-0 lead, Leigh went off the boil in the second half and were only able to add two penalties while Rovers managed to pick up a couple of tries. While there was never the slightest possibility of losing, Leigh can't afford to put a team on the canvas and then allow them up again. If they do that against Widnes, it could all end in tears.

That said, however, it wouldn't take too much for Leigh to recapture the style and conviction that swept all before them not too long ago.

Their formation and plans were badly disrupted when they lost two of their four prop forwards inside the first five minutes.

Andy Leathem's game was over in only the second tackle, one of Leigh's key yardage men helped off with concussion.

If that wasn't bad enough, Leigh then lost Tim Street when he got involved in a fist fight with Rovers second rower Craig Booth. Street must have been goaded judging by the way referee Nick Oddy awarded the penalty Leigh's way - but two red cards meant both teams were down to 12 with barely five minutes gone.

Featherstone frequently ran into bother with Mr Oddy, especially in the first half, allowing Simon Svabic some target practice.

The Leigh goalkicker helped himself to seven goals from eight shots, his first coming as Street and Booth trudged away to the dressing rooms. The second wasn't long in following, Andy Bastow pinned for holding down in the tackle and Svabic helping himself to another gift.

Just a couple of minutes later Leigh carved the Rovers defence wide open with a trademark try from deep. Willie Swann scooped a low pass off his laces to set in motion the move that saw Simon Baldwin and Neil Turley steam up the middle to send Adam Bristow strolling clean through to the posts for a 10-0 lead.

Turley's cover tackle on Jamie Stokes not long afterwards came at a price, the Leigh full-back further damaging his back. He struggled on to complete the half, even managing to post yet another try, but didn't re-appear after the interval.

Winger Stokes almost pulled a try back but lost possession at the foot of the posts. Those two scares jolted Leigh back into action but they were helped when Neil Lowe's pass only found Dave Bradbury loitering in the Rovers line. Setting off like a startled rabbit, the Leigh prop got up enough of a head of steam to just make it to the line and increase Leigh's lead to 16-0.

Just a couple of minutes later Leigh were out of sight. Their refusal to let the ball die in the left hand corner paid off when Bradbury flicked a pass away for Turley to go in. Svabic's fifth goal made it 22-0.

The dangerous midfield triangle of Rooney, Bastow and Chapman had been outplayed in the first 40 but were to have a growing influence on a second half in which Leigh didn't quite measure up.

The warning signs were there as early as the 43rd minute when Rooney took on the Leigh line before bringing Bastow through a gap on the angle. Emergency full-back Liam Bretherton made a brave try-saving effort but Bastow managed to stretch out an arm to score for try converted by Rooney.

Rovers still hadn't learned their lesson, twice being penalised and twice seeing Svabic extend Leigh's lead.

They managed to close the gap to 26-10 just after the hour when they outflanked the Leigh defence and centre Richard Thaler managed to squeeze in at the corner flag.

The scoreline remained unaltered for the final 19 minutes although Leigh did have two chances to put more daylight between the teams. Baldwin's break up the left would have brought another try had Bretherton not spilled the pass while Svabic's only failure came 11 minutes from time when he hooked a penalty wide.

LEIGH: Turley; Hadcroft, Anderson, Fairclough, Watts; Svabic, Swann; Street, Hamilton, Leathem, Baldwin, Morley, Bristow. Subs: Whittle (for Leathem 1), Bradbury (for Whittle 27), Bretherton (for Swann 28 BB, BBR 36), Bretherton (for Turley HT), Kendrick (for Morley 55), Whittle (for Bradbury 69), Morley (for Bristow 78 BB), Bradbury (for Baldwin 78).

FEATHERSTONE: Rhodes; Stokes, Swinson, Thaler, Bramald; Bastow, Rooney; Lord, Chapman, Helliwell, Booth, Lowe, Darley. Subs: Jackson (for Darley 67), Dooler (for Lowe 48), Dickens (for Helliwell HT), Morgan (for Lord 50), Lord (for Morgan 66).

SCORERS: Leigh - Tries: Bristow, Bradbury, Turley. Gls: Svabic 7. Featherstone - Tries: Bastow, Thaler. Gl: Rooney.

PENALTIES AWARDED: Leigh 13, Featherstone 9.

SCRUMS WON: Leigh 7, Featherstone 6.

SENT OFF: Street, Leigh (retaliation); Booth, Featherstone (punching).

REFEREE: Nick Oddy (Halifax).

ATTENDANCE: 3236